Safe Speed Forums

Over the years I have written numerous letters to local councils and highway authorities objecting to proposed speed limit reductions. None has ever had any effect.

I suspect there are very, very few people on this forum who have written more such letters than I have. Please do not accuse me of complacency or inertia - it is untrue and offensive.

If any of the Derbyshire proposals relating to roads I was familiar with were still current, then I would have objected to those, particularly the A623 between Chapel and Baslow which is utterly disgusting. But they were all out of date. This underlines a major problem with this issue - actually getting hold of information about proposed reductions.

I have also in the past attempted to co-ordinate a campaign by the ABD to get members to write letters objecting to proposed reductions, with little effect.

It needs to be borne in mind that councils will give little weight to objections that appear to be using a standard letter, or those from people well outside the area using standard, generalised arguments.

And how many objections could this forum realistically drum up? I'd like to bet that even if the Highways Agency proposed a blanket 50 limit on the A50 between the M1 and Stoke, we would struggle to generate more than 20 letters.

I would strongly urge anyone here to object to any local speed limit reductions on roads they know. But don't delude yourself it is likely to do much good.

The priority must be to campaign for a revised method of national speed limit setting that restores proper speed limits on suitable roads and gives councils much less discretion to interpret the guidelines in a downward direction. Given the experience of the past 15 years, I would strongly support removing from councils the discretion to alter speed limits on principal roads and requiring them to submit all such proposals to the DfT for approval.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

I drove along this road yesterday, all the way into Marlow. There's a new speed limit being introduced on the outskirts of town (Henley Road). Yet another example of a 40 being cut to a 30. The "New 30mph speed limit" signs are already in place, but other signs are covered up, so the change is not yet in force. Later on, I went back the way I'd came, and was behind a line of cars - all doing 40 - perfectly safely. What normally happens is that when the traffic gets heavier, and people have to make turns into side roads, the flow of traffic automatically adjusts its speed. But alas it seems that this is not good enough for Nanny. I've already seen where the "safety van" will choose to park when the time comes. And I can almost guarantee that it will operate during slack daytime hours. No point in being there between 8am and 9am when the volume of traffic causes a natural adjustment to 30ish.

In addition to this one, I found new speed limits up the Oxford Road, all of which are unnecessary because you wouldn't want to drive at more than the posted limit anyway in many cases. Oxford Road is just a quiet country lane. I can't see that there'll be any enforcement of any kind.

...and just this weekend I got stopped for speeding in this "new" 30 area on my Honda scooter.

The trap consisted of 3 officers on foot - the senior officer was a male of about 45 and was the one to raise his hand and flag me down. Another male officer stood around not doing very much, while a girlie officer held the hair dryer, and clocked me doing 36. The whole ensemble looked like a work experience outing - LOL. There were cars in front of me that were not stopped, so when I was stopped I thought it must be some sort of routine check, not a speed trap.

I was asked if I knew what the speed limit was. I said I thought it was 30 but had changed not long ago. The rest of the conversation went like this:

Have you, er, got a licence for this thing? - Yes

And have you got any penalty points on your licence? - No

Well, if you want to keep it like that, keep within the speed limit. It's just a warning this time.

The officers were all nice/polite, and after all, they're only doing a job they've been assigned to do.

But I still can't see what was wrong with the old 40 limit. No doubt one of the local residents "complained", and a local "action group" campaigned for the change.

Well here's my two-penneth for what its worth.

What about the tourist pound?

I used to spend a great deal of time walking in the Peaks and subsequently spend a lot of money there as I would visit towns and places like the Retail Centre (at Baslow?). Sadly my route via Stoke-on-Trent has beccome peppered with changing speed limits and cameras and the stress of this quite frankly mars the day. In fact my friend now point blank refused to drive this route. I now generally goto the Peak a slightly longer camera-free route. Obvioulsy not good for the environment etc etc, but that's the way it is.

I generally drive in at day break - I like to have the hills to myself, so observing a NSL is pretty much non-existent driving in. If derbyshire messes around with speed limits like this post says, personally it will be the final straw for me making Snowdonia my preference based entirely of the driving journey. I can recommend driving over the Berwyns at day break at 90mph - its as liberating as...err...something that's very liberating.

Anyway, my point is Derbyshire can do what they like, but I hope they consider the negative feeling and resentment this will have to tourism which it greatly relies upon. Ironically the locals will know where the camers are etc, but it will be tourists that get caught!

My experience as a resident of the Peak District is that most tourists are happy to drive around at 25mph, gawping at the scenery or trying to find somewhere to pitch thier wretched caravan.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Agree entirely - don't know the road in question but I've driven some quiet twisty roads around the south west with the sun coming up, so I know exactly what you mean.

Lucy - don't take this the wrong way but, purely out of interest. how old are you? (Age range if you don't want to disclose exactly!) I'm guessing perhaps mid-20s based on your outlook, but then sometimes I think older.

(And no, this isn't me trying to "pull" before anyone asks! )

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Magistrates rule #1: "Never let justice get in the way of a conviction."

There road I refered to is B4391 towards Bala.

Well I'm going to leave you guessing about my age, but you may have read on another post (Brake fitter one) I remember Austin Cambridge's and learnt to drive on a grey Fergie tractor with a starting handle. In fact you started it on petrol then switched tanks to run it on parafin - however the tractor was quite old when I drove it (and I was quite young)!

The best driving sunrise I have have has is A5 past Capel Curig. Hit it right and there is a pink glow on the snow of the Glyder mountains as Tryfan breaks the sun beams. Also from Capel Curig on A4086 towards Llanberis Pass has an equally magical quality when you get it right. I been fortunate to see the sunrise over the Grand Canyon and the sunrise over Snowdonia is on par.

Other National Parks are available.

As Peter E has said objections are next to futile. For a starters if you don't live in the authorities area you have to justify why your objection should be allowed, so even if we could flood a council with objections 95%+ would just be binned unread. And such letter can only be generated when we are aware of the proposals. Yes the internet has helped but Councils are only obliged to post notices in local papers and by putting notices along the route. I too put in a sensibly worded objection to the A515 limit reduction and got no reply. But then the objections I raised were also raised by the local cops, this is from a Council document I downloaded:
http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/Images/content/DemocraticServices/Reports/2007.09.13%20A515.pdf

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Now if the council are going to ignore such remarks by their own police force we are I fear doomed to 50mph. What I can't quite wrap my head round is the councils reason for doing this. Is it just a question of being seen to do something/anything. I don't quite buy the conspiricy theories - cash generation, big brother control freaks etc. But something is convincing otherwise disinterested councillors to vote in these limits. What?

As for enjoying the open road. The Peak District is on my doorstep. And I to enjoy a spirited ride on the motorbike but I drag myself up at the crack of dawn and get the 'Cat and Fiddle' to myself and I'm home for a late breakfast - on my way home from my last blast of last year I passed the camera van outside Chapel-en-le Frith copshop its crew having a brew before the off - gave them a cheery wave

Barkstar

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The difference between intelligence and stupidity is that intelligence has limits.

If Councils setting speed limits bother you why not stand for election? You could also join the party of your choice and make your voice heard but be warned - you will come up against people in powerful positions with an IQ lower than the temperature in a freezer.

Our Councils do not set limits but when I was a Councillor we had the usual suspects who wanted humps, lower limits, cameras, road closures etc. As Chairman of the Traffic Committee I learned how to say NO in dozens of ways. Some say that I took far too much pleasure in showing those who wanted more restrictions just how wrong they were.

Standing for election means putting your head above the parapet and being shot at (verbally) by every pompous prat in the world but when you get it right it is very rewarding (but not financially!)

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The only thing that should be prohibited is prohibition.