Plea for opinions on new 20mph zones falls on deaf ears

Sheffield Council has already approved the lower limit in several residential areas, with plans to introduce them over the next 12 to 18 months and said it will continue to identify other potential areas.

But the new schemes have attracted some criticism because they are what council officers call “sign-only” and do not employ any other traffic calming measures such as speed humps.

A report to Sheffield Council’s cabinet highways committee, which meets on Thursday, claims the total cost of road accidents is £425m for South Yorkshire as a whole.

The figure includes the impact on emergency and health services, damage to property and vehicles and lost economic output from people left dead and injured.

The latest 20mph zones are proposed for Woodthorpe and Lowedges and although the council asked the residents for their opinions, the plea was largely ignored.

The authority said it sent leaflets to 5,000 households in the two areas involved but only nine people in Lowedges and 11 in Woodthorpe gave their views, with eight to one in favour in Lowedges and eight to three in favour in Woodthorpe.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service also failed to respond to the council’s request for comments on the scheme.

No objections have been made by the fire service or bus operators and police said they supported the schemes as part of road safety efforts.