Safer speeds for Hertfordshire

Road safety will be improved in nearly 300 neighbourhoods across Hertfordshire, after the Lib Dem-run county council announced a major expansion of 20mph zones.

The schemes encourage lower speeds and can reduce road deaths and serious accidents by 25%.

Hertfordshire’s new zones will mainly be created in residential areas and near schools, not arterial routes.

They’ll be introduced subject to public consultation, and the council will only implement schemes which residents support.

Liberal Democrats pledged to boost road safety when they took control of Hertfordshire County Council in May last year.

The key change involves making 20mph zones much simpler and cheaper to provide.

They will now be created mainly through signage and road-markings, instead of complex, expensive methods used in the past.

The old approach - by the former Tory leadership - wasted money through unneeded traffic calming and speed humps, often disliked by residents.

It means far more neighbourhoods will benefit from reduced speeds, but at little extra cost.

The bulk of the funding derives from a grant of £7 million, specifically for 20mph zones, allocated by central government.

The Tories spent £5.5 million of those funds but completed only 20 zones.

A further 70 were in the pipeline. Lib Dems will deliver all of those plus an additional 200 in areas previously unconsidered for funding.

An extra £1.5 million has been provided from the council’s capital budget.

In all, nearly 300 schemes will be achieved. That means the county council will reach more than half of the 557 Hertfordshire neighbourhoods where 20mph limits are deemed beneficial.

Cllr Paul Zukowskyj, cabinet member for transport and environment, said:

“Residents across Hertfordshire have complained for years about dangerous speeding traffic outside their homes and their children’s schools.

“Their concerns went ignored because the council was spending all the budget on just a handful of areas.

“Lib Dems are changing that, with a new approach which delivers far better value for money.

“Nearly 300 communities will have lower traffic speeds in areas where they live, walk, cycle, play, and go to school.

“Anyone wondering whether the council should spend money on 20mph zones should consider the cost of accidents. Every road death costs the taxpayer £2.5 million”.