FAQs

One of the biggest issues communities raise with both Councillors and roads officials is speeding or inappropriate speed in our communities.

The ‘Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party Shared Policy Programme’ published in 2021 included the commitment that all appropriate roads in built up areas would have a safer speed limit of 20 mph by 2025.

This National Strategy for 20 mph speed limits aims to expand 20 mph speed limits across Scotland and ensure all appropriate roads in built-up areas have a safer speed limit of 20mph by 2025.

The strategy seeks to introduce a consistency for 20 mph speed limits across the country, simplifying speed limits for drivers.

It seeks to reduce perceptions of road danger, encourage people to walk and wheel, and create more pleasant streets and neighbourhoods by providing a more equitable balance between different road users and will contribute to the implementation of the safe system.

What is the Safe System Approach?

The Safe System approach is a way of thinking about road safety that recognises that people make mistakes and that the road environment can be unforgiving. The approach seeks to minimise the risk of death or serious injury by addressing the following five key components:

1. Safe roads and roadsides: Roads and roadsides are designed to reduce the risk of crashes and minimize the severity of any crashes that do occur. This can involve measures such as separating different types of traffic, providing safe spaces for pedestrians and cyclists, and reducing speed limits.
2. Safe vehicles: Vehicles are designed to protect occupants and other road users in the event of a crash. This can involve measures such as electronic stability control, advanced braking systems, and side impact protection.
3. Safe speeds: Speed limits are set to ensure that vehicles are traveling at safe speeds for the road environment. This can involve measures such as speed cameras, road markings, and road design.
4. Safe road users: Road users are educated and encouraged to behave safely on the road. This can involve measures such as driver education and training, public awareness campaigns, and enforcement of traffic laws.
5. Post-Crash Response: It is important to respond quickly and effectively to crashes to minimise the harm caused. This can involve measures such as providing emergency medical care, clearing the road quickly, and investigating the causes of the crash to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

Transport Scotland will fully fund the implementation of 20mph speed limits around the council network (signing and lining only at this stage). This is a significant financial investment for us.

The funding cannot be used to repair roads. The money is for signs only and cannot be spent on works that require excavations such as those needed for pavements, crossings or cycle paths.  

The legal order to implement the 20mph will, at this stage, be a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO)under Section 88 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. This will run for up to 18 months while we monitor the effect on traffic speed. There is no statutory requirement to consult under this process, but we are keen to engage with those interested in the proposed speed limits with a view to refining the proposals for moving to the permanent stage.

Thereafter a further review will be undertaken and a permanent Road Traffic Regulation Order (RTRO) promoted under Section 84 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. This process requires public consultation and there will be an opportunity to formally object to the proposals at this stage. 

"a road is a restricted road .....if ....in Scotland, there is provided on it a system of carriageway lighting furnished by means of lamps placed not more than 185 metres apart and the road is of a classification or type specified for the purposes of this subsection in regulations made by the Scottish Ministers" The Restricted Roads (Classification or Type) (Scotland) Regulations 1985 

This means any road with more than 3 street lights on it and not an A or B road has a 30mph speed limit. 

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all appropriate roads in built-up areas will have a safer speed limit of 20mph by 2025.

Throughout the UK, the culture around 20mph speed limits is changing towards more extensive and default coverage. 20mph speed limits are in force in many of the medium and larger cities in Britain, and more and more rural authorities are introducing larger-scale extended 20mph programmes, including:

• Bristol
• East Lothian
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow
• Liverpool
• Midlothian
• Oxford
• Perth and Kinross
• Portsmouth
• Scottish Borders
• Sheffield
• West Lothian
• Wales
• Highland

Large-scale changes to the road network can be challenging for road users and may take time to become established. Research shows that any increases in travel times and congestion are negligible, and in some cases, they can even be improved through reduced speed limits. It is often not understood that in many urban areas, average speeds are already significantly lower than the speed limit due to congestion. The actual speeds in the top 25 most congested cities in the world are well below 30 km/h (19 mph).

Intense acceleration and deceleration are known to cause greater emissions, increased noise nuisance and increased passenger discomfort, particularly if it is associated with rapid acceleration and deceleration. Slower and calmer driving reduces emission rates for carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and oxides of nitrogen, depending on the gear engaged and the level of driver acceleration/ braking. Vehicle speed was found to be a strong contributing factor to the degree of heavy metal contamination, such as cadmium, lead, zinc, and nickel, in road dust.

The largest source of noise in urban areas is traffic-induced noise, which accounts for 80% of all communal noise sources. The Beuhlmann and Egger, 2017 study in the UK, measured traffic noise and found that 30 km/h (19 mph) road speeds reduced acoustic energy levels by about half. Environmental noise has been linked to sleep disorders, heart disease, stress and, among children, decreased school performance, including decreased learning, lower reading comprehension, and concentration deficits.

In Moray, the Council has, where possible, retained 30mph speed limits on the main and distributor road network. The exceptions to this are the trunk roads: the A96 through Elgin and Keith, and the A95 through Aberlour and Craigellachie. This approach is intended to help maintain traffic flow on the main road network.

Trunk roads are managed by Transport Scotland, and it is Transport Scotland that has determined these routes will be subject to a 20mph speed limit. Any comments or concerns regarding trunk roads should therefore be directed to Transport Scotland via their contact page: Contact | Transport Scotland 

Implementing 20 mph speed limits in a pragmatic and measured way allows for appropriate roads to be monitored and evaluated on their effectiveness and it helps to identify if the road is credible and self-enforcing which will reduce the need for police enforcement.

It is recognised that after a period of monitoring, the speed on some roads may need to be refined or modified, either in length or with additional speed management measures, to create suitable self-enforcing roads.

Any changes should continue to be monitored, and where compliance levels are not at an acceptable level, or local knowledge suggest the road is not appropriate, consideration should be given to reverting to a 30mph speed limit, in part of full, if necessary.

The position of Police Scotland in respect of the enforcement of 20 mph aligns with the enforcement activity criteria for all published speed limits, contained within the Speeding Standard Operating Procedure which states “deployment of resources must prioritise sites which represent the greatest risk and should only be undertaken where considered necessary and in the interests of casualty reduction.”

Feedback from the community questioned why some roads were not going to have a 20mph speed limit imposed. We have reviewed this and the outcome is:

Land Street, Keith – this will have a 20mph speed limit

Main Road and Bede – these will have a 20mph speed limit

Forres High Street – this will have a 20mph speed limit

Market Street, Nairn Road and Victoria Road, Forres- will remain at 30mph, at this time, as they for part of the main road network

Beech Brae – this will remain at 30mph as it is an A class road and forms part of the main road network

Main Street, Rothes – feedback from the community has ensured that the 20mph limit has been extended to incorporate properties along the route.

Each road has been assessed based on the  community facilities (see link to Committee Report; Appendix 1 refers National Strategy for 20mph) However, some locations have been assessed under the National Roads Development Guide Place and Movement - National Roads Development Guide

Place: Place status denotes the significance of a street, junction or part of a street and therefore consideration of place is considered critical in the design of good transport networks.

Movement: Movement is activity and can be expressed in terms of traffic volume and strategic importance of the street, or section of that street, it also considers other street users such as pedestrians and cyclists.

To understand the balance between place and movement, the relative importance of the two aspects needs to be defined. Some streets will have a high movement status but a low place status, such as strategic or main urban roads. Others will have a low movement status but high place status such as residential streets. In between will be streets such as shopping streets, which are likely to have both high movement and place status.

The majority of roads have been assessed in accordance with the policy set out by Transport Scotland (as detailed in the Committee Report, Appendix 1: National Strategy for 20mph). Through this assessment process, it has been determined that some roads meet the criteria for a 20mph speed limit. The operation and impact of these limits will continue to be monitored over time.

The assessment undertaken as part of the 20mph speed limit rollout provided an opportunity to review the wider urban road network. Following this reassessment, it was identified that some roads were subject to speed limits that were no longer appropriate and, as a result, these limits have been increased alongside the introduction of the 20mph limits. This approach also helps to minimise the number of speed limit changes across the network and reduce potential confusion for road users.

The majority of new housing developments incorporate traffic calming measures as part of their design. In older developments, higher levels of on‑street parking can also have a traffic‑calming effect. Funding provided by Transport Scotland for the rollout of the 20mph speed limit was limited to signage only. Any additional traffic calming measures installed in the future will be informed by monitored vehicle speeds and historic collision data.

The rollout of the 20mph speed limit is not intended to replace or reduce the maintenance of the road network. Road maintenance is funded through a separate council budget, allocated in line with council policy. This budget is finite and managed independently of the 20mph programme.

The Council allocates funding for works where specific issues have been formally identified. Community feedback plays a vital role in highlighting these issues and enabling appropriate works to be prioritised and delivered.

The Council does not have a dedicated Road Safety resource. However, it works in partnership with Road Safety Scotland, whose website provides comprehensive road safety advice for all road users Home - Road Safety Scotland

This is currently an issue nationally which both the Scottish and UK governments are investigating.

The rollout of 20mph signage across Moray is being delivered in five phases.

Phase 1 is substantially completed in Elgin, Keith, Aberlour and Craigellachie, accounting for over 38% of all signage in Moray.

Phase 2 will see signage installed in Buckie, Forres, Lossiemouth and Dufftown, as well as Rathven, Portessie and Arradoul. This will account for a further 31% of all signs.

Phase 3 will cover Fochabers, Cullen, Lhanbryde and Rothes and add a further 8% of signing completed. This will be followed by Phase 4 which will cover coastal towns and other villages with a school including Burghead, Portknockie, Hopeman, Findochty, Dallas and Newmill. Phase 5 will be the remaining 5% of signs in the smaller villages and hamlets. 

It is anticipated that the remaining Phases will be completed by the end of June 2026.