Speed limit on hundreds of roads in Birmingham to be reduced following fatalities - here’s how

The speed limit on hundreds of roads in Birmingham is set to be reduced after a series of fatal collisions and serious accidents.

Birmingham City Council has unveiled plans it is working on alongside West Midlands Police to bring the speed limit down on arterial roads in inner city areas which they say are worst affected by dangerous driving.

The council has also told BirminghamWorld that it is planning to pilot increased ‘green times’ where people can walk or cycle or use other non-car modes of transport on road crossings.

The council unveiled the plans to reduce the speed limit on these roads from 40mph to 30mph following calls for urgent action from community-campaign group Better Streets for Birmingham. The group met with Birmingham City Council leader Cllr John Cotton and cabinet member for transport Liz Clements, and senior officers on Tuesday (July 18) who discussed the plans with them.

This morning the group tweeted: “We’re delighted that the Council will reduce the speed limit across the city by the end of the year, as well as make progress on tripling the number of average speed cameras in the city.”

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council told BirminghamWorld: “We want to see speed reduction from 40 to 30 mph on arterial roads in our inner city areas worst affected by dangerous driving and speeding and alongside police colleagues we will have a zero tolerance approach to enforcement.

“We will also pilot increased ‘green times’ for active travel modes at a number of signal controlled junctions and crossings giving greater priority to non-motor vehicles. We will shortly be publishing a list of roads where we plan to do this (including the ring road) but there will only be one or two exceptions within the city boundary.”

The changes would mean those using modes of transport that are fully or partially people-powered like cycles, wheelchairs, or just walking will have longer green signals. West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, who hosted an Ask Andy event in Moseley, yesterday (July 19) also spoke about the strategies to improve road traffic safety.

He said: “The police are moving more resources into this. We will commit to implementing more road safety physical measures including reducing speed limits on arterial roads and there will also be a huge increase in cameras and the follow up by the police through that. There will also be a huge public education campaign by TfWM.

Better Streets for Birmingham also said the city has applied for ‘Moving Traffic Enforcement’ powers which will enable them to enforce things like banned turns.

If granted, the council will be able to issue fines to drivers driving through ‘No Entry’ signs, making banned right or left turns, entering yellow box junctions when the exit is not clear, driving where and when motor vehicles are prohibited, driving on routes that are for buses and taxis only and for weight restrictions.

Earlier this year, Birmingham City Council had unveiled its plan to double the green spaces and build around 124 miles of walking and cycling routes with major changes to the ring road - which opened in 1971 by Queen Elizabeth II. Former council leader Ian Ward had said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There’ll still be public transport and cycle routes, but they will require less space so we can green much of that ring road and turn it into a park that circles the city.”