"20 is plenty" agreed by Council

2.10.14pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 18th Jun 2008

Liberal Democrat Alan Armitage was delighted that his motion to agree, in principle, to 20mph speed limits in Oxford City and in other areas that need them was agreed without dissent at the Council meeting yesterday.

Alan said, "We wanted to build on what appeared to be an emerging cross-party consensus and I am very pleased that this has been proven correct. I am especially delighted that the Conservative group appear to have changed their minds and are now supporting this - I remember last year that they were not so sure.

"There is little dispute about the fact that cars going at 20mph have a less devastating effect when they hit people than cars going only slightly faster. And people across the county put speeding in residential areas as one of their top law-and-order issues.

"There are about 30,000 road accidents of all types a year in Oxfordshire. In 2006 there were 68 deaths in our county from road accidents and 304 serious injuries. And the cost of these accidents and injuries each year is established at around £200 million.

"Council has shown, by supporting this motion, that it does care a lot about the safety of our residents, and that every councillor is committed to achieving a significant reduction in serious and fatal road accidents in our county."