HAVE YOUR SAY ON 20MPH LIMIT ON RESIDENTIAL ROADS
Proposals to introduce 20mph speed limits on residential roads in the borough of Croydon will be debated next week.
Croydon council’s new streets and environment scrutiny sub-committee is to look at bringing in 20 mph limits to residential areas when it meets on Tuesday (16 September) which follow similar proposals already being considered for the borough of Southwark.
“The sub-committee will discuss the impact these have on road safety and in reducing traffic collisions, as well as looking at other places that have rolled out 20mph limits, such as Portsmouth” said a council statement.
“Portsmouth has seen an 18.8 per cent decrease in road collisions on residential roads over the last three years as a result of introducing 20 mph limits across the city” the statement added.
Representatives from the Institute of Advanced Motoring, 20’s Plenty For Us, Living Streets, and Croydon Cyclists will attend the meeting, along with A Safer Grange Road community group in South Norwood and Crystal Palace Transition Town Transport Group.
Cllr Sean Fitzsimons, who chairs the sub-committee, said: “This meeting is a chance to debate the merits of introducing 20mph speed limits in Croydon. “It is not about imposing 20mph limits on main routes such as the Purley Way or Gravel Hill.
“Instead, it is about whether 20mph limits can bring real benefits in terms of road safety and livability to the hundreds of ordinary residential roads we have across the borough.
“It is a topic a lot of people feel very strongly about so we would like to encourage those who are both for and against 20mph limits on residential roads to come along and have their say.”
The scrutiny meeting begins at 6.30pm in the council chamber in the Town Hall, Katharine Street, Croydon.
Residents and groups can also send in written submissions by [email protected]
The council statement adds: “Following the meeting the scrutiny committee, after weighing up the evidence for and against the proposal, may choose to recommend to the council whether to proceed with the proposal.” (Source: Croydon council press release)
MENS ‘FUEL-ISHNESS’
When it comes to the battle of the sexes there are two motoring honours that men are not going to be proud of laying claim to – putting the wrong type of fuel in their car and running out of fuel.
Men are also more likely than women to put the wrong type of fuel into their tank, a mistake that can cost upwards of £200 to put right, research from the RAC has revealed.
In terms of misfuelling mishaps, men are statistically more likely to suffer a forecourt fiasco than women, with 13pc saying they have done so in contrast to just eight pc of women.
The RAC said: “While we attend in excess of 30,000 ‘misfuellings’ a year, this would extrapolate to around 130,000 among all UK drivers, or a financial cost of about £40m based on an average of £200 for draining and flushing a vehicle and the loss and replacement of £50 of fuel.
“This would mean men are responsible for nearly £25m of the misfuelling bill.”
RAC research has also found one in five (23pc) – or an estimated 6.6m – UK motorists admit to having run out of fuel at least once, around a fifth (22pc) more men than women say they have fallen foul of an empty tank.
Of those who say they have been left high and dry by ‘playing petrol or diesel roulette’ and losing, 61pc were men in contrast to just 39pc who were women.
Although three quarters (76pc) of the motoring population claim never to have been caught out, men are also slightly more likely to be repeat offenders – six pc compared to four pc. In 2013 the RAC dealt with more than 22,000 ‘out of fuel’ incidents which equates to almost 100,000 motorists a year across the country.
“While the reason for men’s ‘fuel’ishness is unclear – it may be as simple as they tend to drive more miles per year than women – what is certain is that the number of ‘out of fuel’ incidents increases when fuel prices are rising, presumably because they are trying to make it to their preferred filling station with the lowest prices” adds the RAC. (Source: RAC press release)
