20mph limits - 'It's a step in the right direction, not a revolution'

Agitated drivers breaking into a cold sweat at the very thought of thousands of new speed bumps can relax though - that's not part of the plan.

The city council wants to follow the example of Portsmouth where 94 per cent of roads have been designated 20mph, with no new speed cameras or sleeping policemen.

It may sound revolutionary, and that former bete noire of Edinburgh motorists, the evangelical former city transport leader David Begg, is among those to have lauded the experiment, claiming it has "brought traffic-dominated streets to an end, reclaiming them for community use".

The reality - as a Department for Transport evaluation shows - is far less dramatic.

Average speeds on the streets affected in Portsmouth dropped by less than 1mph, although speeds fell by 7mph on a relatively small number of roads.

The reason for the small change is that most of the streets involved are residential, with cars parked on both sides, where average speeds were previously less than 24mph anyway.

The new limit was most effective in the small minority of residential roads where cars travelled fastest, so in that respect it has been a success.

The most compelling statistics in this argument, however, involve speed and death; if hit at 40mph, 90 per cent of pedestrians are killed; at 30mph, 20 per cent die; at 20mph, 3 per cent will not survive. For that reason alone this scheme looks like a step in the right direction.

Secrets of old age

THE recipe for longevity is something in which most people take an understandable interest.

After all, most of us would like to enjoy a long life, so long as we can stay in relatively good health and retain our faculties.

That's why it never fails to interest whenever someone reveals the secret of how they hit a century, or longer. And isn't it a bit thrilling when the lucky man or woman admits to having enjoyed the odd vice?

Today, Isabella Blyth tells us that she has reached 106 despite enjoying the odd sherry - but she has never smoked or, more remarkably by far, ever been kissed.

So there it is, folks - now you can weigh up your options and decide whether, as with Isabella, it would be worth it.