Bicycle Austin forum

Jack

Member

Registered: 2013-03-27

Posts: 345

Edinburgh (not Texas) speed limit study

EDINBURGH (SCOTLAND) 20 MPH SPEED LIMIT PILOTS NET BIKING & AIR QUALITY GAINS
-> As more U.S. cities embrace the Vision Zero approach to curtailing traffic and ensuring pedestrian safety, there's plenty of compelling data in favor of slow roads coming out of Edinburgh, Scotland. The numbers show how lower speed limits can change drivers' attitudes about bicyclists — and even let city-dwellers breathe a bit easier thanks to air quality improvement. The easy-to-love capital city is rolling out a plan (http://bit.ly/1EyWcvD) to cap the speed limit at 20 mph across 80 percent of its roads, including the entirety of its dense downtown. Key arterial roads will retain their speeds of 30 and 40 mph.

Pilot projects in Edinburgh revealed that the number of people who believed cycling to be unsafe fell from 26 percent to 18 percent. The number of young children riding bikes to school tripled, while, among older kids, the rate of bike riding to school went from 3 percent to 22 percent. [Source: http://bit.ly/1F9F5j4]

Jack

Member

Registered: 2013-03-27

Posts: 345

Re: Edinburgh (not Texas) speed limit study

And another article on relative speeds--why are normal cycling speeds thwarted/considered unsafe?  https://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.c … ad-design/