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JK
PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 20:41 
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Scarborough Evening News 19 March 2008 wrote:
New speed limit set for the A171

By Laura Crothers
NEW speed restrictions are set to support the way to a safer Scalby.
A 40 miles per hour zone will be introduced on the A171 between Scalby and Burniston due to a successful request from Newby and Scalby Parish Council to the Highways Authority.

The request followed the news that there will an extension of the 30 miles per hour zone at the north end of Scalby due to the Rugby Club’s move to a new headquarters.

The current 30 miles per hour zone will be automatically extended when street lights are installed alongside the Rugby Club’s new car park.

The Parish Council felt that there was no merit in retaining the 60 miles per hour limit on the short stretch of road between Burniston and the new 30 miles per hour limit. As a result they asked the Highways Authority to consider introducing a 40 miles per hour buffer zone, to which they agreed.

Nick West, divisional highways engineer, told the council the new 40 miles per hour limit will pro-bably be introduced in the 2009/2010 financial year.

Mike McGuinn, clerk to the Council, said: “We would like to pressure them to introduce it earlier. Never the less it will make the road a lot safer as traffic will have already slowed down considerably before entering the village.”

Scarborough Council have supported the parish in their campaign to make the A171 safer for pedestrians and traffic. They purchased two Vehicle Activation Signs (VAS), and have said they are willing to provide further signs elsewhere in the parish.

After hearing the news about the new 40 miles per hour zone Cllr Derek Bastiman said: “This is very welcome news. When implemented it will have a beneficial impact on traffic speed, not only approaching the new club car park but it will have a knock on effect of traffic slowing down well before Barmoor Lane and reducing the approach speeds from there to Scalby Village junction, a stretch of road which has seen more than enough collisions and fatal accidents.”


http://www.scarborougheveningnews.co.uk ... 3890264.jp

Isn't there an offcial procedure to go through before a road is dropped from NSL to a 40? Surely a Parish Council cannot just ask the Highways Authority to reduce the limit? What about 85th percentiles, official notices asking for objections? Have we now totally lost the democratic process in this country and councils of any stature can do just what they want?

I think this needs to be objected to if nothing else other than principle. The road is bounded by open fields so the NSL is appropriate though the council seem to want to build sports facilities and housing there.

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=54.31285 ... =0&src=msl
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TripleS
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 18:18 
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That stretch between Scalby and Burniston is good for a lot more than 60 mph at present, let alone NSL, but that might change if the area receives significant development.

They've already introduced buffer zones of 40 mph on what were sections of NSL leading into the 30 mph zones on entry to Burniston from the Scalby side, and the entry to Cloughton from the Whitby side. IMHO these buffer zones are a load of nonsense. What they should do is start the 30 limits where they need to start, i.e. where the hazards increase as you arrive at a village, and leave the rest of it alone. We should then be encouraging drivers to respect those sensible 30 limits and not mess about with sections of 40 limit that have no merit in themselves.

What the pea brained authorities are doing, egged on by busybody residents and misguided councillors, is merely bringing the speed limit regime further into disrepute than it already is.

I travel those roads quite frequently, and as far as I've noticed most drivers behave fairly decently in the actual built-up areas, even if they boot it a bit in the NSL areas. That's fair enough as far as I'm concerned.

Best wishes all,
Dave.
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graball
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 11:34 
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I live in Telford and virtually all the NSL roads have been reduced to 40 mph in the last 12 months, in one case a perfectly good dual carriageway has gone to 50 MPH. I've even had copies of council reports back where the consultants have said that to make the road worthy of a 40 MPH limit the council would have to do further engineering work i.e. build stupid obstacles in the middle of long straight sections to stop overtaking. This they have done to great expense to introduce 40 mph limits on roads with a mean speed of over 50 mph. So effectively they have down graded the road and made it more dangerous in order to introduce a 40 mph lilmit.... where do we go from here? The country is going mad!!!!
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JK
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 00:55 
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I agree entirely.

Can they really use the excuse of accidents occurring on another part of the road some way away as an excuse to lower the limit on this particular stretch of road? The limit is already 30 where the claimed accidents occurred.

Either the decision makers have lost their marbles or it is an Orwellian type scheme to catch dozens speeders to boost council funds. And it will be many more as a 40 limit is not appropriate here.

Given that the local MP (Robt. Goodwill) is the Tory spokesman for transport matters it doesn't look promising for a change to sensible motoring policies should there be a change of government at the next election. Either he has no influence over his own parties' local council or he is in agreement with Labour's policies
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graball
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:18 
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The best of it is, the road where they have reduced the speed limit from 60 mph to 40 mph has an accident figure LESS THAN HALF the national average so they can't even use the excuse of accidents on that one.
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adam.L
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:47 
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The local rag is suggesting that the A127 is to have it's NSL down graded to 50mph. This is The Arterial into Southend and is a DC. People see fit to ignore these facts and cross the road on foot without using the ped-exing. When they are on there way through a car windscreen it is the fault of the driver. Also many drivers see fit to leave the nice, wide straight road and take a closer inspection of the shrubbery. Both of these factors are weapons for which the local busy bodies use as leavers to lower the speed limit, which we are told will be inforced by Specs cameras. However, as it is a very busy road, when the bulk of the traffic uses said road, 50mph is hopelessly optimistic, but at 8 pm or later 85 mph is perfectly safe.

The last thing the traffic needs is slowing down.
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JK
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 13:54 
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adam.L wrote:
The local rag is suggesting that the A127 is to have it's NSL down graded to 50mph. This is The Arterial into Southend and is a DC.


All the way from Romford? As you say, when there is little traffic 70 is fine (when it was built 100 plus was legal and considered perfectly safe!) When it is busy you would be doing well to achieve a steady 50. Odd how our supposedly better built vehicles designed to protect occupants and pedestrians are apparently considered to be less safe than vehicles built 50 odd years ago. Or is it the ££££$$$$'s dangling to provide the council with a silver lining for them to enjoy their excesses and inflation busting pay rises?

One thing for sure. Reducing the limit could be considered good evidence to prove that all the money spent on new road safety features (not only scams) have not worked as intended.

Before anyone says the road was less busy fifty years ago, I remember huge jams on the A127 around Gants Hill and Horns Lane up to Romford back then. Much as it is today.
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graball
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 16:56 
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Yep round Telford most of the roads were built mid seventies all with 60 mph and now reduced to 40 for no good reason, the accident rates are less than half the national average....it's just some pratt in the council who doesn't even live within 30 miles of here who thinks he ought to justify his over inflated salary by making out he is doing something to help the community by reducing accident figures from 8 in 5 years to what???? maybe 7????
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JK
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 18:24 
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The only reason would seem to be to entice drivers to break the speed limit so they can have a scamera or a patrol car waiting to catch those doing around 50, a speed that was well within the limit maybe less than 24 hours earlier! It is clearly warfare on the motorist from a Government that started an illegal war with another sovereign state. But the odd thing is that Tory councillors are also joining in on the bandwagon (if they truly are Tory Councillors, some seem to be just in name only and go against stated policies regarding road humps, 20 mph traffic calming zones which tempt one to try resident calming by sounding one's horn when negotiating each one.) Traffic calming? That's truly Orwellian double speak; has anyone come across a truly calmed driver negotiating dozens of road humps? I suspect not. Instead we have enraged drivers who will drive recklessly just because of them. Safe and careful drivers are being turned into motoring maniacs by idiotic policies.

I can't remember ever reading on here a comment from a councillor to justify reducing these limits. I find that odd given that this is a site dedicated to 'safe speed' and one would expect them to do some research before making these draconian changes.

One can imagine these councillors being Roman Centurions coming round with whips to beat the populace into submission.

Things were so great in the sixties, they really were. Now if it isn't these modern day Roman Centurions we have technology snooping on us ready to pounce with a parking ticket for waiting at the traffic lights! Things have gone terribly wrong, especially in the last 10 years. Since the sixties we have had Labour come along and put in dozens of bus lanes only for the Tories to come along a few years later to take them all out again... and again and again but this time its gone too far.

How long before these Centurions get their comeuppance? The Roman Empire didn't last forever.
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graball
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 17:31 
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We had a case locally of a woman who moved into a house on a country road where the limit was 60 mph..In august last year......she didn't like living on a busy road so petitoned to get it dropped to 4omph....why didn't she just buy a house on a housing estate?????
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SafeSpeedv2
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 00:34 
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adam.L wrote:
The local rag is suggesting that the A127 is to have it's NSL down graded to 50mph. This is The Arterial into Southend and is a DC. .....

.....which we are told will be enforced by Specs cameras. However, as it is a very busy road, when the bulk of the traffic uses said road, 50mph is hopelessly optimistic, but at 8 pm or later 85 mph is perfectly safe.
The last thing the traffic needs is slowing down.


How very sad can you give me the contact details of that local rag and any others ....
I am looking at the moment to do specific targeting of SPECS ... - which are so wrong & so much worse than cops on the road ...
Thanks - PM me or email or reply here are all fine - thanks Claire.

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Barkstar
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 13:37 
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The legal requirements for a council to announce a proposed speed limit reduction are a farce.

They have to put signs up on along the route (these will be A4 and laminated - if you're lucky). On the often mentioned A515 the road crosses miles of open countryside, so who's going to stop and read them? They also have to publish their intentions in the local press. So if you don't get that paper or papers - and they could choose one with a small circulation - you're none the wiser. I don't know if the have to put them on their websites, but it is only the diligence of those who care (take a bow Peter E) that bring any changes to our attention.

If you have an objection but don't live in the councils area your have to justify why your objection should be taken into consideration. And you may not get any acknowledgement - I didn't.

So its no wonder speed limit changes often come as a surprise.

Like the A34 and A535 going 50mph in various places south of Alderley Edge. :x

Barkstar

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adam.L
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 21:23 
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SafeSpeedv2 wrote:
adam.L wrote:
The local rag is suggesting that the A127 is to have it's NSL down graded to 50mph. This is The Arterial into Southend and is a DC. .....

.....which we are told will be enforced by Specs cameras. However, as it is a very busy road, when the bulk of the traffic uses said road, 50mph is hopelessly optimistic, but at 8 pm or later 85 mph is perfectly safe.
The last thing the traffic needs is slowing down.


How very sad can you give me the contact details of that local rag and any others ....
I am looking at the moment to do specific targeting of SPECS ... - which are so wrong & so much worse than cops on the road ...
Thanks - PM me or email or reply here are all fine - thanks Claire.


Claire,

it was in the Southend Echo, I have not read it that thoroughly, but they appear to be lowering the speed limit fom the junction with the A130 all the way east to the 40 limit in Southend. Norman Hume is the man responsible.

Rayleigh Weir is a nasty bit of road, there is quite a bend and the camber isn't nice and it's shrouded in trees, but even in my humdrum hatch back 70 is ok, but we know how to adjust our speed when the conditions dictate.

There have been accidents involving cars leaving the carriage way on the straight bit, they are often full of young people at night. There appears to have also been a spaight of pedestrians crossing the 1st 2 lanes, hopping into the central reservation, but not making the it across the remaining two.

While I am on, 12 months ago Essex Safety Camera Partnership told me that the 40 limit near Basildon was a temperary one for six months while the new road surface "bedded in". It was still there last week. I don't like being misslead :evil:
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botach
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 21:40 
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Barkstar wrote:
The legal requirements for a council to announce a proposed speed limit reduction are a farce.

They have to put signs up on along the route (these will be A4 and laminated - if you're lucky). On the often mentioned A515 the road crosses miles of open countryside, so who's going to stop and read them? They also have to publish their intentions in the local press. So if you don't get that paper or papers - and they could choose one with a small circulation - you're none the wiser. I don't know if the have to put them on their websites, but it is only the diligence of those who care (take a bow Peter E) that bring any changes to our attention.

If you have an objection but don't live in the councils area your have to justify why your objection should be taken into consideration. And you may not get any acknowledgement - I didn't.

So its no wonder speed limit changes often come as a surprise.

Like the A34 and A535 going 50mph in various places south of Alderley Edge. :x

Barkstar


And from experience of reporting road repairs on line - quite often the site has problems - best if doing things on line to ask for an acknowledgment

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RichardB
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 18:36 
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Barkstar wrote:
Like the A34 and A535 going 50mph in various places south of Alderley Edge. :x


I've seen the A535 one, but I've not seen any new limits on the A34.

The 30 at Marton has been there for a year or two. The 40 at Nether Alderley probably for at least 3 or 4 years. The rest between Alderley and Congleton was still NSL yesterday
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