Safe Speed Forums

Have a look at the following link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/5223990.stm and click on the "see the traffic on the A442" link.

I have issues with this proposal.

1. It seems that the residents of Quatt dislike the sound of traffic whilst having a barbeque.

2. They have a perceived problem with speeding motorists and bikers.

3. The residents wish to prevent an accident.

To which I would respond as follows:

1. The people who move to a house next to the A442 should, surely, realise that the sound of traffic comes with the territory!?!? Did they not possess the common sense to notice a trunk road near to where they were purchasing their home? This is no different to people buying a house in Albrighton, and complaining about the noise from aircraft (Albrighton is next to RAF Cosford BTW, and the complaints are tedious in their regularity - the wife can attest to this).

2. The 442 from Kiddy to Bridgo is, at the best of times, the motoring equivalent of Mogadon; 40mph if one is lucky. Study the video, and tell me if you can see one vehicle travelling a 60mph. Indeed, one video correspondent (cut off in his prime) states that the motorcycles passing in the background are travelling at more than 60mph!! As I say, study the film.

3. Fair point. However, should not the responsibility be equally distributed between pedestrian and motorist? For example, at one point the film-maker walks across the road at a leisurely pace with no fear of impact from "speeding" cars.

Is my logic distorted on this one???????

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Simon

It's a pity we can't send comments!

I've always said to my missus that the last place I would buy a house would be near a main road.

Sounds noisier than it is in reality because the mike on camcorder picked it up. They may even have enhanced when editing the sound as well.

One thing noted - the chap kept talking about "they want to try spending the summer with us"!

I take it these cars are "silent" in winter or bad weather then

Traffic noise would still be there even if they lowered the limit. Risk of accident would still be there as well. Why don't they go the whole hog and ask for 30 mph if crossing the road is an issue? Their complaint seemed to concentrate more on noise levels and sitting in the garden.

Perhaps they should campaign for a bye-pass

Is it busier than normal because of the hot weather and people travelling through en route to some summer event? Or are there some nice vllage pubs/restaurants around?

Not being wholly without sympathy - but surely they did notice that this was once an NSL road when they bought their properties? (Limit was reduced to 60 mph per the Beeb's blurb)

It's a bit like the guy complaining because the cricket balls from the cricket club next door to his house whizz over the garden fence on occasion. He got no sympathy from the listeners to the radio station at the time either he must "nhave noiced the cricket club when he bought the house"

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Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

I would like to echo many of the sentiments above: While I understand having a noisy main road within stones throw of your house must be unpleasent, did the residents not consider this before buying their house?

At least the road wasn't described as a ratrun so we have to give them some credit!

Road noise where I am has doubled because the council resurfaced the road which el cheapo SMA. The road level is higher than it used to be (an inch) and that also has led to a noticeable increase in noise. You have to add that possibility into why the residents are unhappy now. I was wondering whether there are statutory noise levels for outside noise and whether the road now breaks those with the dreadful surface. Unfortunately planning regs dictate you can only have a 1m high boundary so I can't increase the wall height to drown some of it out. I'd love to go and tell the council they had to resurface the road with decent tarmac instead of this cheap crap as they were breaking their own noise regs

So can I.




The A442 between Bridgenorth and Telford can be a bit of a beggar though. There's been a fair few smashes on that bit of highway caused, it would seem, by overtakes on the few stretches that would otherwise permit the maneouvre but are punctuated by junctions.

Don't know how long you've been a Telfordian Sigma (only a few years myself), but I'm intrigued by the signs that have gone up on the Queensway, the DC part they've just reduced to 60mph.
They say, "A442, 174 killed in 5 years" (something like that), which made me think..along the whole length perhaps, but not HERE! Yeah there was a nasty one last year (2 dead), but the rest surely occured elsewhere!
What do you think?



Well, to be fair, theres a lot more leisure traffic in Shropshire in the summer, and in winter you (genrally speaking) shut yer windies and don't do BBQs

I thought SMA was supposed to be quiet? In fact I thought quietness was touted as one of the main advantages.

Can someone who knows clear this up please?

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Teabelly didn’t mean the tar and chippings which they’ve laid on roads around where I live did he? After they laid this the noise levels increased.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

Isn't it likely that the road noise will increase after resurfacing, since the previous surface was probably worn smooth and the surface roughness would be restored by the resurfacing.

Is it possible to plant some bushes, or trees, to help absorb the road noise.

Avoiding living near busy roads has become a high priority issue for us when buying a house, although that comes at a cost. We once lived near a very busy road and junction, next to the high-speed Great Western railway and under the flight path from Heathrow. Apart from the horrendous noise levels, we had four cats killed, or seriously injured, and a variety of road accidents, some of which were quite serious.

The other thing I found a little odd was the fact that none of the vehicles travelling in the background seemed to be anywhere near doing 60, especially the two bikes that went past behind one of the villagers.

(Note that said resident turns around disgustedly at the sound of the bikes as they ride past, and states that they are doing well over 60)



The new limit is a little better than the original proposed blanket 50 limit that was tabled, and I can understand the limit being imposed between, say, the Stirchley and Wrockwardine Wood exits. However, I cannot understand why the limit has been imposed all the way back to Sutton Maddock (long, straight, excellent visibility with just one entry / exit).

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Simon