FINALLY, after all but three years, Thames Valley Police has agreed to enforce the 20mph speed restrictions in Oxford.

One can’t help but wonder, however, why it has taken them so long to act on a scheme first introduced in September 2009.

Interestingly, back in April of this year, Oxfordshire’s road chief Rodney Rose publicly damned the 20mph speed limits as a “waste of money” because they weren’t being enforced. And lo and behold, fixed penalty notices are suddenly handed out to 40 people flouting the speed limit.

Coincidence? Only if you believe the police are naive enough to think the county council would cheerfully write off the £250,000 investment it made to plaster the streets with the low speed signage.

Clearly, and rightly, they were accommodating to the county council, the only alternative would have been to scrap the scheme altogether.

Thankfully, both common and monetary sense have now prevailed and an initiative, designed specifically to save lives on our roads, should at long last begin to take effect.

After all, pedestrians should always take precedence over cars. Let’s just hope the police keep their word, rather than only jump when their operations are questioned.

Two or three officers with speed guns once a month is not enough. So remember to watch your speed on the way home tonight...