Let's start with these comments from Dr Andy Palmer...

The CEO of Aston Martin and COO of Nissan who is, Wikipedia tells me, referred to as the 'Godfather of EVs' due to his work launching the Nissan Leaf. Palmer took to Twitter, sorry, let's try that again. Palmer took to X. Nah, Palmer took to Twitter to recall his train strike experience...

"Drove into London today (anticipating a train strike) to be met with 20mph speed limits throughout Central London, policed with hundreds of speed cameras," he said. "Another erosion of car users' rights which along with ULEZ is likely to be unpopular with voters. I guess the argument for is lower emissions and crash injuries, but I doubt there is credible research behind this.

"20mph should be reserved for around schools & hospitals where it's entirely valid. Emissions in the streets of London will almost certainly higher since one drives in a lower gear to control momentum avoiding the speed cameras. And at 20mph, I'm now swarmed by bicycles overtaking from all angles raising the risk of collision. I'd love to see the research that supports this but like so many things these days, I doubt it's supported by valid facts but rather political expedience."

Cue replies from people unpicking every single word, sharing studies and data to the contrary and just generally making Dr Palmer go very quiet on the matter..

Of the replies linking the research and data that Dr Palmer suggested "like so many things these days, I doubt it's supported by valid facts but rather political expedience", one reply shared the link to a British Medical Journal study from 2020 titled: 'Twenty miles per hour speed zones reduce the danger to pedestrians and cyclists' (link is external).

Another popular one was Transport for London's February release (link is external)stating that "new data shows significant improvements in road safety in London since introduction of 20mph speed limits".

"At sites monitored on the Transport for London Road Network (TLRN), collisions involving a vulnerable road user have decreased by 36 per cent, while collisions resulting in death or serious injury have decreased by 25 per cent after speed limits were lowered," TfL concluded.

On the emissions front, research by Imperial College, cited by TfL and in this Welsh government literature review (link is external) into the state of evidence on 20mph speed limits, found that "it would be incorrect to assume a 20mph speed restriction would be detrimental to ambient local air quality".

The review suggested: "Although there was a moderate increase in CO2 and NOx in petrol cars, the study reported that particulate matter emissions reduced for both petrol and diesel cars and NOx and CO2 emissions reduced for diesel cars. As road traffic is responsible for up to 80 per cent of particulate pollution, this was a significant finding which supports the case for measures which secure observance of 20 mph speed limits."
======================Ignorant car manufacturer executive takes a three seater sofa and two armchairs built inside a two ton metal box into a city demanding that he can drive at any speed.

Ironic that average car speed is 12.5 mph to 11.6 mph in inner London. 20.3 mph to 19.3 mph in outer London. 🤡

https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-26-july-2023-302785#live-blog-item-47773

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> Weekday (07:00 to 19:00) speeds from 2008 to 2018 have changed from:

8.7 mph to 7.1 mph in central London
12.5 mph to 11.6 mph in inner London
20.3 mph to 19.3 mph in outer London

> Ironic that average car speed is 12.5 mph to 11.6 mph in inner London.
> 20.3 mph to 19.3 mph in outer London.

Those are 2018 figures, only slightly down on 2008.

Weekday (07:00 to 19:00) speeds from 2008 to 2018 have changed from:

8.7 mph to 7.1 mph in central London
12.5 mph to 11.6 mph in inner London
20.3 mph to 19.3 mph in outer London

> https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-26-july-2023-302785#live-blog-item-47773

--
Spike

I was being a pedestrian at lunchtime.

Busy road but 20 mph speed limit, single lane one-way with cars parked up along the far side. No crossings.

I want to cross, so cross into the half-a-parking-space behind a car I can see is full of children in the back seat and a couple in the front.

As I am right behind them, the car lurches backward and I have to jump out of the way.

The car pulls out into traffic, with me walking on the pavement and shaking my head. The driver stops his car, opens the window, and shouts that if I hadn't walked behind his car then he wouldn't have nearly run me over. I shout back that the car wasn't moving until I was right behind him - did he look before reversing? He then calls me a rude word and screams off at definitely more than 20 mph...

Bl00dy motorists, eh?

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> I was being a pedestrian at lunchtime.
>
> Busy road but 20 mph speed limit, single lane one-way with cars parked up
> along the far side. No crossings.
>
> I want to cross, so cross into the half-a-parking-space behind a car I
> can see is full of children in the back seat and a couple in the front.
>
> As I am right behind them, the car lurches backward and I have to jump out of the way.
>
> The car pulls out into traffic, with me walking on the pavement and
> shaking my head. The driver stops his car, opens the window, and shouts
> that if I hadn't walked behind his car then he wouldn't have nearly run
> me over. I shout back that the car wasn't moving until I was right
> behind him - did he look before reversing? He then calls me a rude word
> and screams off at definitely more than 20 mph...
>
> Bl00dy motorists, eh?

I told a pavement bicyclist to get in the road, and he called me a rude
word! And carried on bicycling!

Bl00dy cyclists, eh?

--
Spike

Some of your early thoughts on Dr Palmer's 20mph comments...

pockstone: "...'swarmed by ' something.something 'overtaking from all angles, raising the risk of collision.' Glad I've never experienced such a thing whilst riding in traffic."

Car Delenda Est: "And I would have gotten away with it too if it hadn't been for those meddling speed cameras!"

Carior: "Ah Schrodingers cyclist — both slowing down traffic and zooming past in excess of 20mph.

"Also — not being funny but whenever I am in central London on strike days, the speed limit is not the thing slowing cars down!

"Also also — driving slower uses more petrol? really? really? That's the line you're going to take whilst you criticise people for making unsubstantiated claims — what's this guy got a doctorate in? and where from because the standards of that programme are clearly very low!"

That would be a doctorate in Engineering Management, from Cranfield University, achieved in April 2004... Wikipedia is doing plenty of heavy lifting this morning...

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> "Also also — driving slower uses more petrol? really? really? That's the
> line you're going to take whilst you criticise people for making
> unsubstantiated claims — what's this guy got a doctorate in? and where
> from because the standards of that programme are clearly very low!"

Any reasonable car these days has a facility for displaying a current
readout of fuel consumption.

Most people manage to use it without problems.

--
Spike

SERVES THE NAZI TWAT RIGHT. :-)

Laurence Fox has been fined £220 by a magistrate after being caught out by one of Mayor Sadiq Khan’s new 20mph speed limits.

The Reclaim Party leader and actor, 45, was convicted quietly behind closed doors for the incident on Boxing Day last year, when he was flashed by a speed camera while driving at 24mph.

Fox was at the wheel of a Volvo on Vauxhall Bridge Road in Westminster, where 20mph limits were imposed last year as part of Mr Khan’s “Vision Zero” campaign.

The Mayor is aiming to eliminate road deaths by 2041, with 20mph limits due to be expanded this year. The policy has attracted criticism from some motoring groups, who say it contributes to congestion.

Fox the former star of ITV series Lewis, ran to replace Boris Johnson as MP in Uxbridge but lost his deposit after attracting just 2.31 per cent of the vote in last week’s by-election. He also lost his deposit when he ran against Mr Khan in the 2021 mayoral race.

n May, Fox made sarcastic comments when a Labour MP suggested the introduction of 10mph speed limits. But he declined the chance to speak about the Mayor’s 20mph zones in the wake of his own conviction. “We are not commenting on this at all,” a representative from the Reclaim Party said.

Court documents show Fox’s car was clocked by a speed camera at just after 3pm on December 26, 2022. He received notice of the prosecution in May and submitted a form confirming he was the driver of the car. But Lavender Hill magistrates’ court said he did not enter a plea.

Fox was convicted through the Single Justice Procedure this month and ordered by a magistrate to pay a £220 fine plus a victim surcharge and costs.

He will also have three penalty points added to his licence.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/laurence-fox-fined-breaking-speed-limit-driving-london-b1096595.html

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> SERVES THE NAZI TWAT RIGHT. :-)

Perhaps you would like to see him debanked, although it didn’t go well for
the last bank that tried it.

> Laurence Fox has been fined £220 by a magistrate after being caught out
> by one of Mayor Sadiq Khan’s new 20mph speed limits.

> The Reclaim Party leader and actor, 45, was convicted quietly behind
> closed doors for the incident on Boxing Day last year, when he was
> flashed by a speed camera while driving at 24mph.

> Fox was at the wheel of a Volvo on Vauxhall Bridge Road in Westminster,
> where 20mph limits were imposed last year as part of Mr Khan’s “Vision Zero” campaign.

People were being killed in the roads long before motor vehicles were
invented, so what else will Khan need to do?

> The Mayor is aiming to eliminate road deaths by 2041, with 20mph limits
> due to be expanded this year. The policy has attracted criticism from
> some motoring groups, who say it contributes to congestion.

The Maldives were supposed to be under water by 2015, but that vision
didn’t come about either.

> Fox the former star of ITV series Lewis, ran to replace Boris Johnson as
> MP in Uxbridge but lost his deposit after attracting just 2.31 per cent
> of the vote in last week’s by-election. He also lost his deposit when he
> ran against Mr Khan in the 2021 mayoral race.

Can’t quite see what that has to do with his speeding conviction.

> n May, Fox made sarcastic comments when a Labour MP suggested the
> introduction of 10mph speed limits. But he declined the chance to speak
> about the Mayor’s 20mph zones in the wake of his own conviction. “We are
> not commenting on this at all,” a representative from the Reclaim Party said.

Why not a 1 mph speed limit?

Although people are killed and injured by vehicles travelling at 0mph.

> Court documents show Fox’s car was clocked by a speed camera at just
> after 3pm on December 26, 2022. He received notice of the prosecution in
> May and submitted a form confirming he was the driver of the car. But
> Lavender Hill magistrates’ court said he did not enter a plea.

> Fox was convicted through the Single Justice Procedure this month and
> ordered by a magistrate to pay a £220 fine plus a victim surcharge and costs.

> He will also have three penalty points added to his licence.

> https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/laurence-fox-fined-breaking-speed-limit-driving-london-b1096595.html

No victim surcharge?

--
Spike

>
> Fox was convicted through the Single Justice Procedure this month and ordered by a magistrate to pay a £220 fine plus a victim surcharge and costs.
>
> He will also have three penalty points added to his licence.

Laurence Fox has put his money where his mouth is.

Despite failing to become London mayor, losing his deposit and even polling behind a YouTuber, the controversial former actor turned politician has shown that he fancies his chances at reaching even higher office and appears to be betting that he will become the next prime minister.

Writing on Twitter, he shared a screenshot of an odds website showing he had put £1 on him becoming the next PM, with odds of 500/1.

:-0