20 mph for Islington: Blackstock Rd to Highbury Grove

Islington’s first Green Councillor, Katie Dawson, successfully secured cross-party commitment for a 20 mph limit on all the borough’s residential streets.

Islington Green Party is now calling for this to be extended to the borough’s main roads too.

The benefits of 20 mph limits should not be confined to those who live on the quiet side roads. Many Islington residents live, shop, work and travel to school along our main roads.

Extending the limit would make it easier to cross the roads and encourage more people to visit local shops. The safety benefits are well established: if you are hit by a car at 35 mph your chance of survival is 50%. If you are hit by a car at 20 mph your chance of survival leaps to 97%.

Islington is a borough with very limited green space, so it is critical our streets are designed for people and not just as corridors for moving vehicles. 20 mph limits on our main roads would help achieve this by:

• reducing the risk and severity of collisions
• improving accessibility for older people
• making our streets more sociable
• improving health by reducing air pollution
• smoothing traffic flow by reducing bunching at junctions
• reducing noise by minimising acceleration and deceleration

Many residents, including drivers, have told us they’d welcome the benefits of a default 20 mph limit on our main roads. If you feel the same and want to see 20 mph limits on the A1201 (Blackstock Rd, Highbury Park and Highbury Grove), please sign our petition and send a strong message to Islington Council and Transport for London that Islington’s residents want and deserve roads that are safer, calmer and less polluted.

[When signing the petition, please note that it is optional to give your address & postcode. They will NOT be publicly displayed, but would add weight to the petition particularly with the council.]