No reason the speed limit can't be extended they say

Campaigners are today (11 June) planning a demonstration outside the Scottish Parliament in support of plans to make 20mph the default speed limit for residential streets across Scotland.

A grassroots coalition of active travel and environmental organisations alongside ordinary Scots will be marking the lives that would have been saved had this measure been put in place when the Scottish Parliament first sat in 1999.

Friends of the Earth Scotland, Cycling UK, Pedal on Parliament, Spokes Lothian, Go Bike and 20s Plenty have joined forces to organise the demonstration.

The demonstrators will place 60 chairs outside Parliament, one for every life that could have been saved, each one representing a ‘life interrupted’. They are inviting MSPs of all parties to come out and show their support for the bill. The first vote on the bill will be held on Thursday 13th June.

Gavin Thomson, Air Pollution Campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland said: "This Bill is vital to making our streets healthier and safer. Our politicians have a chance to show that they’re to take action to face up to the climate emergency.

“This means making our roads safer so more of us can walk and cycle safely, and leave our polluting cars behind. It is shocking that MSPs are planning to put the need for motorists' speed ahead of the need for public safety."

Sally Hinchcliffe of Pedal on Parliament added: "This legislation presents a perfect opportunity to make our towns and cities safer right across Scotland, eliminating the postcode lottery of safer streets for children walking or cycling.

“If MSPs don't want to support this bill, we challenge them to tell us what measures they will enact that would reduce road danger for vulnerable road users as effectively as this."