A BLANKET 20mph speed limit is set to be introduced on Bristol's residential roads.
The city will be one of the first in the country to bring in the reduced limit on all but the busiest main roads.
The £2million scheme, which is expected to be phased in over three years from the autumn, is aimed at making roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
Bristol transport chief Tim Kent said: "Even a reduction in speed of 5mph can make the difference between life and death.
"This is not about putting a police officer on every corner and making sure people drive at 19-and-a-half miles per hour. This is about improving the quality of people's lives by making roads safer for children to use, encouraging them to walk to school and for people of all ages to walk and cycle."
The ruling Liberal Democrats are committed to a citywide 20mph speed limit and set aside £150,000 towards the project in this year's budget, despite the worst cuts in the council's history.
Mr Kent, the cabinet councillor in charge of transport, said he was confident that a 20mph speed limit would mean that it would become the norm for people to drive more slowly. He said if people felt safer to walk or cycle, then it would help to relieve congestion and reduce carbon emissions because they would be using their cars less frequently.
"We would obviously not introduce 20mph on the city's busiest roads but where there are borderline cases, we would want this considered by the Neighbourhood Partnerships," he said.
The council is keen to go ahead with the new limit following positive results from two pilot 20mph zones in the east and south of the city.
They covered a total of 500 roads and 30,000 homes and although they relied mostly on 20mph signs and no police enforcement or expensive traffic-calming measures, the council says there is evidence to show that drivers have been slowing down.
A council monitoring report on the pilot schemes said: "The overall results show that 'signs only' 20mph has been accompanied by a small but important reduction in daytime vehicle speeds, an increase in walking and cycling counts, especially at weekends, a strengthening of public support for 20mph, maintenance of bus journey times and reliability, and no measurable impact on air quality or noise."
It goes on to say that during the first 12-month period of the trial zones, the number of road casualties went down by five in Bristol East but actually went up by eight in Bristol South.
The council's highway experts say it was too early to draw any conclusions about the impact on casualty figures. But according to national research, the chances of a pedestrian being killed in a road accident drop four-fold if they are hit by a vehicle travelling at 20mph, compared to one at 40mph.
The report says: "As a general principle, the 20mph programme is a means of creating a culture where driving too fast in residential streets is seen as unacceptable. There is already strong evidence that speeding in residential streets is viewed as the number one antisocial behaviour."
The feedback from residents shows that 89 per cent of them are in favour of a 20mph speed limit on residential streets, the report said. And more than two-thirds (70 per cent) of them are in a favour of a citywide ban.
But the figure drops to just over half (56 per cent) for a 20mph limit on main roads.
The report goes on to say that residents are frustrated about the level of speed enforcement on busy streets.
It says: "This is encouraging as it reflects the enthusiasm among residents for lower speed limits on their streets but it is something that must be discussed with Avon and Somerset Police if we are to move forward with a citywide roll-out of a scheme that is fully supported by residents."
National guidelines from the Department for Transport say that 20mph speed limits should be self-enforcing and there should be no expectation on the police to provide extra enforcement beyond their normal routines, unless specifically agreed.
In South Gloucestershire, there are a handful of 20mph speed limits – mostly in areas close to schools – but the general view is to consider them only when they have been urged by residents who are prepared to monitor them.
Over the past ten years 20mph zones were introduced in 16 areas but it is understood that these were brought in where traffic-calming measures were already in place.
A citywide ban would mean that many main roads would be exempt because it would be impractical to enforce a 20mph speed restriction on the likes of the A4 Bath Road or the M32.
Some busy roads such as West Street in Bedminster and Whiteladies Road are already so jammed with traffic at peak times that drivers could not travel at more than 20mph even if they wanted to.
The Bristol South pilot scheme covers about 200 roads in Bedminster, Lawrence Hill, Southville and Windmill Hill, was introduced in May 2010 while the Bristol East scheme, which covers 300 roads in Ashley, Easton, Eastville, Lawrence Hill and St George West, was brought in five months later.
Road safety charity Brake has been campaigning for 20mph zones to increase the chances of drivers being able to stop in time to avert accidents, and Portsmouth is believed to be the only other city in the country to have introduced a citywide 20mph speed limit.