‘Lifesaving' 20mph limits are set to be introduced on Birmingham's non-A-class roads, with support from West Midlands Transport's road safety commissioner.
According to The Times, Birmingham City Council has confirmed plans to apply 20mph limits to all B, C and unclassified routes within city confines.
The decision comes after Wales implemented a similar policy and saw roughly 100 fewer people killed or seriously injured on 20 and 30mph roads a year after the limits were introduced.
Mat MacDonald, road safety commissioner for West Midlands Transport, supported the policy while on BBC Radio WM, saying that lower speed limits could have prevented incidents such as the death of six-year-old Bobby Colleran, who was struck by a van in West Derby in 2014.
‘We know that if that van had been travelling at 20 rather than 30mph,' he explained, ‘which was the speed limit of that road… on a balance of probabilities he would still be alive today.'
He added: ‘Anyone who opposes these measures has to come up with a set of reasons, advantages, and benefits that eclipse the value of the human lives that will be saved by this.'
