A ROAD safety campaigner from Lymm swapped 20mph roads for the red carpet as he was handed with his MBE from the Queen.


Rod King went to Buckingham Palace for his investiture last week after picking up an MBE for his services to road safety.


He has been working as campaign director of 20s Plenty, a group who have been working to encourage authorities across the country to bring in 20mph road speed limits on residential roads.


As well as Warrington signing up to the idea of lower limits other major cities including Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham have signed up.


Rod set the group in 2007 as a voluntary organisation to support communities wanting lower road speed limits.


He said: “To be honoured with an MBE for services to road safety is significant not only as recognition of my personal efforts but also of the enormous progress which has been made in establishing lower speeds as the norm on community roads.


“We are moving from a past tradition of accepting that motor vehicles could dominate where people lived, worked and shopped into one where we share the streets more equitably and enable people to choose to walk or cycle without fear of fast traffic.


“It acknowledges the aspiration and efforts of individuals, communities, councillors and council officers around the country who simply want to make their places better places to be.”


The group now has 216 local campaigns across the country and has recently launched a Time for 20 campaign which calls for the Department for Transport to change regulations so that repeater signs are not needed on 20mph streets, but only on remaining 30mph roads.


“It really is “Time for 20” and this honour is very gratefully received. Perhaps most of all it signifies that 20’s Plenty for Us is much more than a campaign for change, but is a movement towards a more civilised way of sharing our streets,” he added.