Rockburner wrote: ↑Tue Jan 24, 2023 2:00 pm
The council have probably had a lot of complaints
I did have quite a good look at the decision-making... as far as I could tell, the biggest justification was from someone who claimed that 'boy racers' from London drive stolen Range Rovers and Golfs around at night at high speed, then set fire to them...
...like a 20 mph would make them reconsider their actions.
Count Steer wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 4:42 pm
Speaking of speed. Stuck on a telephone pole I walked past today was a notice which appears to be the local authority preparing anyone that happened to read it* that they plan to do a blanket speed reduction on rural 40 limits to 30. The rationale for this wasn't presented. In fact you had to read it slowly with your finger under the words to find the nitty gritty.
* this pole was the equivalent of the basement where the by-pass plans were on 'display' in HHGTTG. I would estimate that this month, ooh, about one person ie me, would have happened to be passing close enough to read it unless a convention of telephone pole enthusiasts that happen to like yompin' in the hills happened to be passing.
Surrey Hills??
If so, I looked at this in Elevenses back in the summer. The argument is that it'll reduce serious crashes on rural roads. I checked the area using the Crashmap... almost all the injury crashes - minor, serious or fatal - happen on the main roads that aren't covered by the blanket reduction or in the built-up areas.
The council have probably had a lot of complaints
A lot of the rural roads in the Surrey Hills are used by cyclists and walkers so I wonder if that has contributed to the decision.
Saying that, some of the eMTBers in the area are running derestricted e-bikes which would break the 20mph limit too.
Rockburner wrote: ↑Tue Jan 24, 2023 2:00 pm
The council have probably had a lot of complaints
I did have quite a good look at the decision-making... as far as I could tell, the biggest justification was from someone who claimed that 'boy racers' from London drive stolen Range Rovers and Golfs around at night at high speed, then set fire to them...
...like a 20 mph would make them reconsider their actions.
I'd say there's a fair bit of council-leader wanting to 'make his mark' as well.
In Oxfordshire there was a NSL road that went through the outskirts of a small village (ie the body of the village was all down a pair of side-roads), but there's a college which borders the road.
The speed through the village edge was dropped to 30. Allegedly the headmaster of the college (who'd firmly requested the limit was only dropped to 40), was pissed off because he knew that no-one was ever going to do 30 there, and he'd be the one fielding all the complaints from the parents.
Or a local Police chief adopting a NIMBY attitude on a road which runs past his house; the A631 from Bawtry to Market Rasen is just such a case. In the teeth of local opposition to the imposition of average speed cameras on that stretch of road, a 50mph limit was enforced. Normally locals push for speed cameras; in this case it was the police (chief) who pushed it through in the face of local opposition.
