A report has found the number of road traffic collisions in Edinburgh since 20 MPH limits were introduced in 2016.
The research team investigated the effect of the policy on a city-wide scale, including spill-over effects.
Researchers led by Dr Valentin Propov, from the University of St Andrews, Edinburgh East Anglia and Cambridge collaborated on the study.
They introduced a cutting edge methodology to identify the shifts in trends of road traffic collisions (RTCs)
The research published in Environment and Planning B.
The research found that the average number of RTCs per month in Edinburgh in 1997 was 165.
While in 2018 this number fell to 64. In 2016, the year of the intervention (introduction of 20mph limit), the average RTCs per month was just above 95.
It found that around the time of the introduction of the 20mph policy in Edinburgh there was a decline in collisions.
Dr Popov said: “We have reasons to believe that the 20mph policy was effective, at least in the short-term. This shows that 20mph limits are worth considering in cities where there is a concerted will to reduce RTCs and make roads safer for users.”
The United Kingdom’s Department for Transport (DfT) reported that in the 12 months up to September 2018, there were 27,295 people killed or seriously injured on British roads.
