Westminster 20mph limit would save tax payers £50m a year

Introducing a 20mph speed limit on residential roads in Westminster will save tax payers £50 million a year, according to Labour Councillors who say that Department for Transport figures show that each death on the roads costs £1.8m and each injury costs £59,700 in hospital, police and ambulance costs, lost taxation and lost working days and lost production. In 2008, 1,604 people were injured on Westminster's roads, including 20 people who lost their lives. Recent research published in the British Medical Journal shows that 20mph speed zones were associated with a 40 per cent reduction casualties. Labour Councillors say that that introducing a 20mph speed limit in residential roads in Westminster could cut road accidents by 40% and save 8 lives a year and cut road injuries by 600 a year. In more detail: * Cutting roads deaths by 8 would save £14.4 million a year; * Cutting road accidents by 600 would save £35.8 million a year; * In total, a 20 mph speed limit could save £50.2 million a year.

It’s a scandal, but it’s the duty of the press as well as the politicians to press these people for answers. We haven’t had proper answers about where the money has come from and what the status of this person is.
— Gordon Brown on the tax status of Lord Ashcroft, 7 February 2010

Asides: what others are saying
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