BRADFORD Council has published more details of where 20mph zones will be introduced throughout the city next year.

Along with most of the city centre the zones have also been extended to some schools.

Councillors will discuss the plans – which will cost £120,000 – next week after which it is expected to move ahead.

A report drawn up for councillors hails the Bristol 20mph scheme as a great success which has saved lives and reduce speeds.

But it doesn’t mention a 20mph scheme closer to home – in Manchester where the roll out of 20mph zones was halted because they made almost no difference to speed or accidents.

The measures were introduced across central, southern and eastern Manchester but council officials were shocked to find that drivers simply ignored the new limits. On some roads average speeds actually went up.

Data published by the Department for Transport in November shows that this is not unusual. Some 85 per cent of all journeys made through 20mph zones last year broke the speed limit.

While we support anything to make Bradford’s roads better we fear blanket 20mph zones are not the answer.

A driver who doesn’t bother with tax, insurance or an MoT won’t slow down for a 20mph zone. Likewise the ‘boy racers’ (many of them old enough to know better) who treat our city centre like their own personal racetrack.

We’d rather see the £120,000 used to take the fight to danger drivers by helping fund more community speed watch campaigns than simply slamming the brakes on law-abiding motorists.