Birmingham motorists could soon see the top speed on the city’s main routes restricted to 30mph in the wake of a recent spate of tragedies. The ring road and other major routes in and out of the city, currently with 40mph limits, are set to be dramatically slowed as part of moves by council and police chiefs to make roads safer.
Senior councillors and cops also claim they will take a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to drivers found flouting road rules, with police set to run more local operations to catch out drivers who speed, use their phones or jump red lights. And there are plans to make the ‘green man’ lights stay on longer to give pedestrians and cyclists an extended right of way across busy road junctions.
It’s part of a package of promises published in a joint statement after councillors and police were urged to act with greater urgency to protect cyclists and people on foot, as well as other motorists.
The affected roads should include any routes currently with a 40mph speed limit including Belgrave Middleway, the scene of a recent tragic crash which killed a cyclist, a father of a two year old. The joint statement was issued hours after a public protest in Kings Heath over deaths and injuries.
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Activists say the pledges – made with no specific details or timeframe – are laudable but do not address the immediate crisis in the city unless they happen soon. They are calling on city leaders to declare a ‘state of emergency’ following recent deaths and injuries.
READ MORE: Birmingham vigil near spot where cyclist killed watches on as drivers blatantly jump red lights
Campaigners, led by the newly formed Better Streets for Birmingham group, want an urgent press conference called to make a declaration and set out specific plans to act. One activist said the response of West Midlands Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office was deemed ‘too slow’ and ‘vague’.
They said it also compared woefully with historic precedents, like when the Metropolitan Police deployed more than 600 officers at 166 key junctions during morning and evening rush hours for six weeks after three cyclists died in quick succession.
Declaring ‘enough is enough’, Cllr Liz Clements, Birmingham City Council’s Labour cabinet member for transport, has promised zero tolerance and to work with partners to end dangerous driving on the city’s roads. She said: “All partners agree that we need rigorous enforcement of the rules of the road, that’s zero tolerance enforcement. We must prioritise people.”
This will include a plan to reduce the speed limit on urban main roads – including ‘arterial routes’ – the ring roads – from 40mph down to 30mph.
The council has yet to clarify which roads it intends to target but a spokesperson said it would leave nearly every road in the city with a top speed of 30mph. These will feed into a network of 20mph roads across neighbourhoods and close to schools, already part of the city’s Transport Plan.
Council leader John Cotton added: “The council is horrified and saddened by the recent tragic incidents on the city’s roads involving cyclists and pedestrians. We agree that we cannot wait for new infrastructure … We need to move far more quickly if we are to meet the range of challenges currently facing the city.”
Adam Tranter, cycling and walking commissioner for West Midlands Combined Authority, said undoing Birmingham’s history as the UK’s “motor city” was a huge challenge – but one that needed to be overcome.
The council’s long-term vision is to double the city’s green spaces and build miles of walking and cycling routes, much of it segregated from motor traffic, to put it on a par with Copenhagen and Brussels. “But we should bear in mind that that that will take a long time, potentially decades, to deliver,” Mr Tranter said. “We already have the tools and funding now to make a difference, and unless we change, unfortunately, it (deaths and injuries) will keep happening.”
Chief Inspector Rebecca Barnsley of the West Midlands central transport unit, said police operations were under way to bring justice to families affected by “the devastation and long term impact” of serious road crashes. She highlighted additional work with hundreds of Speed Watch volunteers, as well as police operations in hotspot areas, speed traps and anti-cruising legislation.
“We also conduct regular operations to tackle speeding and mobile phone use while driving and deal with safety issues like not wearing seatbelts, inappropriate child safety, and window tints which reduce vision.”
Anne Shaw, executive director of Transport for West Midlands, added: “The recent heartbreaking deaths have demonstrated we still have a long way to go to achieve our vision of zero deaths.” She said a blueprint was being devised on road safety to help take ‘meaningful steps’ to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads.”
We have asked Birmingham City Council for more details about which roads will be affected and how quickly any reduced speed limits will come into force.
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