20mph school speed zone to be rolled out

THE first 20mph school speed zone being rolled out across Nottinghamshire as part of a new scheme has come into force at a Mansfield Woodhouse primary school.
Robin Hood Primary School, Mansfield Woodhouse are the first school in the county to introduce a 20mph speed limit on the road. Pictured with children from the school l-r is Alan Rhodes Leader of County Council, Kevin Greaves Chair of Transport, Cllr Joyce Bosnjak and Pauline Witham Chair of Governers.Robin Hood Primary School, Mansfield Woodhouse are the first school in the county to introduce a 20mph speed limit on the road. Pictured with children from the school l-r is Alan Rhodes Leader of County Council, Kevin Greaves Chair of Transport, Cllr Joyce Bosnjak and Pauline Witham Chair of Governers.
Robin Hood Primary School, Mansfield Woodhouse are the first school in the county to introduce a 20mph speed limit on the road. Pictured with children from the school l-r is Alan Rhodes Leader of County Council, Kevin Greaves Chair of Transport, Cllr Joyce Bosnjak and Pauline Witham Chair of Governers.

The new zone, outside Robin Hood Primary and Nursery school, in Oxclose Lane, is the first since Nottinghamshire County Council gave the go-ahead for 20mph speed zones outside all the county’s schools.

Whilst some schools in Nottinghamshire already have 20mph speed restrictions, the Robin Hood Primary initiative is the first as part of a Government drive to ensure vehicles travel at low speed near all county schools.

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The move was approved by the council’s transport and highways committee in September.

Guidance from the Department for Transport, issued in January this year, stated that local authorities should consider the introduction of 20mph speed limits and zones in built-up urban areas and village streets to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

More than 2,000 20mph speed limit schemes have already been implemented across the country,

A council spokesman told Chad that the 15 Nottinghamshire schools which already have restrictions were typically put in force after concerns were raised by individual establishments.

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Transport and highways committee chairman Coun Kevin Greaves said: “Most schools are in residential areas so the introduction of a 20mph speed limit will also have positive benefits for residents at all times of the day, including weekends and school holidays.”

In 2012 there were 96 young pedestrians and 46 cyclists injured on county roads. Of these incidents, nearly 10 per cent happened within 50 metres of a school entrance.

Speed surveys have already been carried out at 50 of the 338 locations where the limit will be implimented over the next three years.