Research reveals £100,000 cost of 20mph zones

Following on from last month’s cover story and after additional research, My Watford News can exclusively reveal that more than almost £100,000 has been spent on 20mph zones in Watford. Five separate 20mph schemes have been implemented so far across Watford with a dozen more in the pipeline. According to statistics from Hertfordshire County Council (HCC), approximately £97,917 has been spent on the five current schemes despite recent revelations that the 20mph areas are self-policed. Costs include speed surveys, design fees, traffic regulation order fees and build costs. The Advisory 20mph Zone introduced on Bushey Mill Lane cost £8,108; the extension to the 20mph Zone in Clarendon Road cost £10,000; the 20mph Zone in Cow Lane cost £10,654; the 20mph zone in Leavesden Road cost £23,600 and the 20mph Zone in St Albans Road cost £45.555. Last month My Watford News reported that nobody patrols the 20mph zones and that purely by putting up signs and painting roads, this alone is intended to bring driver speeds down. One local resident said: “20mph is so painfully boring that you actually switch off from what you are supposed to be concentrating on – driving. It may be fashionable at town hall to impose the slowest limits possible in the name of anti motorist PC dogma claptrap, but it is not being enforced and is outright being ignored, so why do we have it all of a sudden?” However, Peter Jeffree, a campaigner for the 20s Plenty for Watford group, said: “The three main reasons for promoting 20 in residential areas are road safety particularly for children and the elderly, improving the environment and quality of life for residents by reducing traffic noise and pollution, and encouraging more cycling and walking in our residential streets by making our roads feel safer, thereby further reducing car use. “My view is that all residential areas within Watford should be 20 limits, with only designated main through roads having 30 limits. The current piecemeal approach adopted by HCC means that the limits are confusing for drivers.”