Speed management

The City of Edinburgh Council are responsible for setting the speed limits on all public roads within its boundary, with the exception of trunk roads eg. A720. It is the responsibility of Police Scotland to enforce the law when a speed limits are not adhered to, however, a speed limit should be realistic for the road environment and be relatively self-enforcing. 

Most of the roads in Edinburgh are subject to a 20mph limit the final phase of the City of Edinburgh Council’s 20mph roll out came into effect 5 March 2018. View the Council’s range of information on 20mph for Edinburgh. This includes a map of the road network and the 20mph Tool Kit. 

We undertake batches of traffic surveys on all public roads, regardless of limit; measuring vehicle speeds, classifications and volumes, at locations where road safety concerns have been raised by Officers, Councillors and members of the public on all. This traffic data allows us to direct both Council and Police resources to the locations where there is speed limit non-compliance.

Unless there have been significant changes to the network at a location, we will not resurvey a location that has been surveyed in the last three years.

Should the traffic surveys highlight non-compliance the Road Safety Team will consider implementing various speed reduction measures including Vehicle Activated Signage (both temporary and permanent), additional road markings and physical calming measures. 

Please contact us if you have any queries in relation to the above or would like to request a traffic survey.