20 mph speed limit – protecting children outside schools?

Warwickshire is currently trialling five 20 mph zones near schools in villages around the county.

See Warwickshire County Council 20mph Speed Limit Trials

There are a number of sites on the Internet objecting to these, but if they reduce the number of accidents and serious injuries outside of schools then I’m for it.

The problem is that the existing speed limits are being ignored, so will these really make any difference? Even if people don’t reduce their speed down to the 20mph, hopefully they may at least slow down to 30mph, whereas at the moment cars may be driving at 40mph and only be 10mph above the speed limit.

The reason I am so interested in this is because of the road outside my daughter’s nursery private nursery, which is in the same building as a primary school (although in neighbouring Worcestershire rather than in Warwickshire). There is a zebra crossing outside the school, and a 30mph speed limit with active light up reminder signs. Despite the speed limit outside the school there are frequently cars driving down the road at speed. Some of these are going so fast that they couldn’t physically stop in time if a child stepped out into the zebra crossing. I’ve also had cars driving over the zebra crossing even though I was stood on the crossing at the time.