Drivers often react despairingly to having to travel through 20mph zones.
On the other hand, local authorities recognise that there are benefits to slowing traffic down in built up areas.
This was evident when Dundee City Council approved proposals to slow traffic on many of Dundee’s roads.
Four Fife communities could also see new more 20mph signs in the near future.
In October the North East Fife Area Committee agreed to proposals for new 20mph speed limits in Cupar, Newburgh, and Kingsbarns.
These will now go to public consultation.
The plans would see all the existing 30mph roads in Cupar switch to 20mph, slowing traffic on the busy A91.
Environmentally focused community group Sustainable Cupar is pleased the measures have been put forward.
Mary Ellen Robertson is the group’s active travel coordinator.
“I’m very much in favour of the new limits and we have been calling for them for a long time”, she says.
“It will improve safety for pavement users in Cupar.
“The narrowness and unevenness of the pavements has been causing safety issues.
“There is also the size and volume of the traffic that has been going through the town, which includes big lorries.”
Can 20mph limits make Cupar’s roads safer?
The Scottish Government is aiming to introduce 20mph limits on all roads it judges to be appropriate by 2025.
And in its 20mph implementation guide the government lays out why 20mph roads could prove safer.
The guide analyses casualty figures and suggests that the average person is “seven times more likely to die if they are hit with a vehicle at 30mph than they are at 20mph.”
The Scottish Government adds: “In 2023, 65% of all pedestrian casualties, 61% of all pedal cyclist casualties, 31% of all motorcyclist casualties and 30% of car casualties occurred on roads with a speed limit of 30 mph.”
Sustainable Cupar is hoping that the proposals will make it safer for children to walk to the town’s schools and for those using pushchairs.
Mary Ellen is also a Cupar resident and a cyclist.
She believes that slower speed limits could reduce risk for more vulnerable road users.
“We are working a lot with Fife Council to make things a bit safer because it’s important for all ages and abilities”, adds Mary Ellen.
“A drop in speed limits will definitely help and people will gradually get use to it.
“And a consistency throughout the town will also help because it in can prove confusing places, especially near the schools.”
There are currently 30mph buffer zones in place on the approach to Castlehill and Kilmaron primary schools.
Is introducing 20mph limits in Newburgh enough to quell safety concerns?
Fife Council’s proposals would also mean introducing 20mph limits on Newburgh’s High Street, Abernethy Road, and Cupar Road.
Stuart Jessiman is hopeful the 20mph limits will improve the safety of the A913 that runs through the heart of his village.
“We have a problem with traffic which is beyond what this road can handle”, he says.
“Cars parked on the road make it very difficult for two lorries to pass.
“And I’ve seen lorries have to mount the pavement to get round an adjacent truck.
“There are so many cars parked on the road and you have so much traffic sometimes.
“It is a situation where a child is going to run out.
“Twenty mph will surely introduce a safety element and that has to be a good thing.”
Parked cars and lorries causing issues in Newburgh
Stuart says the A913 road running through Newburgh forms part of an important route for lorries from the nearby Clatchard Quarry.
He cites an increase in heavy traffic using the High Street in recent months due to the supplying of materials for the A9 dualling programme.
And also argues that a new train station in the town would help ease traffic.
“This means this road, which is already under a fair degree of stress, was made even more so because fairly large trucks are pulsing through”, adds Stuart.
“It doesn’t make for a pleasant experience, especially if you’re at the end of the village where trucks start to rev up the hill.
“There’s too much traffic on this road and we’ve had some monsters come through here.”
But would drivers adhere to the new limits?
“I think local people would and the majority of lorry drivers would”, says Stuart.
“Trucks are not the worst culprits. It’s the cars that come whizzing through.
“I live at the end of the high street and see people coming into the village at a fair speed.”
Fife MP backs 20mph limits in Cupar
Liberal Democrat MP for north east Fife, Wendy Chamberlain backs the 20mph proposals in Cupar.
She says she was first contacted by a concerned resident in 2020 about speeding on Cupar’s Sandlylands Road.
“I’m happy to see Fife Council addressing the speeding concerns raised by constituents”, she says.
“I have been raising this issue with Fife Council ever since, so I am pleased to see it now being implemented.
“Residents deserve to feel safe when walking around their neighbourhoods or backing out of their driveways.
“I hope these measured are implemented quickly so that this can finally happen.”
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