Please Drive Fast Through The Village
Discussion
I'm currently visiting the village of Cound in Shrewsbury. I've noticed in Google Streetview images from 2009 the villages of Cound and Upper Cound are all NSL. Now they're covered by 30mph limits.
According to the available documentation, the council decided to implement 30mph limits in outlying villages around Shrewsbury simply on the basis that villages should have 30mph limits, regardless of the road types, accident statistics and the need to slow traffic down.
https://shropshire.gov.uk/committee-services/Data/...
The average speeds recorded in these villages were 24.7mph and 23.4mph. There may have been the odd very fast person in combination with very slow people, but this seems unlikely in consideration of the nature of the roads and the highest speeds recorded haven't been published.
If average speeds are low and accident rates are low, it begs the question why the bureaucracy and expense is required to introduce the speed limit. Also, it seems to be another case of a road safety initiative that discourages people from thinking for themselves. As it was, people were moderating their speeds on the narrow lanes, seeing the villages and bringing their speed right down. Putting up signs basically telling people 30mph through the villages is safe may well encourage them to drive faster than they were.
The reasoning behind the limit reduction is contradictory, on the one hand it won't slow traffic down but on the other there will be all the safety and environmental benefits of lower traffic speeds.
Surely limits like this are just unnecessary effort and expense, are overcomplicating the road network and are actually encouraging people to drive faster than is perhaps a good idea by leading them to follow speed limits as an instruction rather than judge for themselves what speed is appropriate.
According to the available documentation, the council decided to implement 30mph limits in outlying villages around Shrewsbury simply on the basis that villages should have 30mph limits, regardless of the road types, accident statistics and the need to slow traffic down.
https://shropshire.gov.uk/committee-services/Data/...
The average speeds recorded in these villages were 24.7mph and 23.4mph. There may have been the odd very fast person in combination with very slow people, but this seems unlikely in consideration of the nature of the roads and the highest speeds recorded haven't been published.
If average speeds are low and accident rates are low, it begs the question why the bureaucracy and expense is required to introduce the speed limit. Also, it seems to be another case of a road safety initiative that discourages people from thinking for themselves. As it was, people were moderating their speeds on the narrow lanes, seeing the villages and bringing their speed right down. Putting up signs basically telling people 30mph through the villages is safe may well encourage them to drive faster than they were.
The reasoning behind the limit reduction is contradictory, on the one hand it won't slow traffic down but on the other there will be all the safety and environmental benefits of lower traffic speeds.
Surely limits like this are just unnecessary effort and expense, are overcomplicating the road network and are actually encouraging people to drive faster than is perhaps a good idea by leading them to follow speed limits as an instruction rather than judge for themselves what speed is appropriate.
peterperkins said:
If you lived on/near/crossed the road in question would you be happy with it to be NSL ?
Speeds were low anyway and few cars drive along here. It's only used by people accessing houses in the immediate vicinity. Upper Cound
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.6397255,-2.66258...
Cound
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.6403465,-2.65425...
When no speed limit signs are around, people use their own judgment. Speed monitoring has shown that judgment to be sound. When signs are put up apparently saying higher speeds are safe, that encourages people to drive faster than they have been.
Part of the local objection has been a lack of police interest in enforcing the speed limit, so people could still speed through the village and get away with it if they had a mind to.
s m said:
Willy Nilly said:
I was brought up in Shropshire, but don't know Cound that well.
I now live on the main drag through a village in Essexshire and give zero f
ks about how fast people drive past my house. Zero, zilch, nothing. Go as fast as you like.
Anyone that lives on a arterial route and complains about traffic should be dragged from their house
I biked through there on Sunday - it's not on a main road ( the A458 bypasses the main village ) and I really can't see a problem with a 30 limit - it never used to have one but you'd be hard pressed to take the bend by the tennis club much quucker anyway - short straight and you're up to a T junction anywayI now live on the main drag through a village in Essexshire and give zero f
ks about how fast people drive past my house. Zero, zilch, nothing. Go as fast as you like. Anyone that lives on a arterial route and complains about traffic should be dragged from their house
The original plan was for a blanked limit across the area but the council was obliged by the locals to treat Cound and Upper Cound separately, leaving the roads past some houses and over the iron bridge as NSL, as the locals didn't like the idea of the council wildly applying 30mph limits everywhere.
I'm as puzzled as Mr Vega is above as to the point.
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