St Clement reduces 40 mph speed limit
Wednesday 3rd November 2010, 2:56PM GMT.
Drivers will need to keep their speed to 30 mph along St Clement roads that were previously 40 mph zones
ALMOST all of the 40 mph speed limit roads in St Clement are to be reduced to 30 mph.
The change, which will come into force on 12 November, will introduce a 30 mph limit on all roads except some sections of the Inner Road and those which are already 20 mph and 15 mph.
Transport Minister Mike Jackson agreed to the change following a request from St Clement Constable Len Norman.
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I can ride faster than that stupid new speed limit on my pushbike. Will the plastic police book me for speeding too??
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Why not reduce the speed limit on all of St Clement’s roads to 5mph?
That would be much safer.
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I will have to hire someone to walk in front of my car with a red flag next !!!
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Good, now we will have 15, 20, 30 and 40mph speed limits, no danger there then. Of course the alternative would be for people to look where they are going when crossing the road – that would never do.
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Actually yes.
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Superman, the answer to that is yes.
Nanny state is alive and kicking in St Clement.
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I just hope it is policed well,as it is 40 mph at the moment and is not .as for the bike riders yes you will be booked and i just wish the police would book the race biker for riding 2 a breast ,and when you toot them they just give you the v sign …lovely people i must say ,this well save lives with the boy races of the island using the coast road as a race track ,lets hope it goes island wide ….well done st clements
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Why have there been an excessive number of accidents on this road? Apart from the poor lady killed by a speeding policeman I can’t remember any, happy to be proved wrong though.
When you get past Le Hocq it is a cracking stretch of road with relatively few houses so why restrict speed to 30mph. Modern cars have excellent safety systems and brakes and can stop in half the distance quoted in the Highway code. Surely a better step would be to educate people how to drive better and cross the road responsibly instead of penalising the sensible motorist – oh and 30mph causes less efficient performance resulting in greater fuel consumption = more tax revenue.
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#1 Superman – will they book you?
Actually, yes they can. If you’re speeding AND smoking a fag they will probably lock you up!
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The flood gates have beeen opened to every anti motoring lobby in the island, just go and see your constable and he will sort it with Jackson. Soon the whole island will be 20. Whatever happened to the islandwide review which was supposed to look objectively at speed limits islandwide and consider all views not just the NIMBYs. Low sped limits will not resolve the issue, idiots will still be idiots. Far better to police existing realistic limits effectively than a blanket reduction
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Power for power’s sake!
I can, so I will!
Why not just ban transport – what a legacy!
Unreal!
I’ll wake up soon.
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Where is it actually safe or sensible to do 40 mph on the Inner Road, might one ask?
It is busy nearly all the time and fraught with hazards.
30 mph is a far safer top speed, especially in the knowledge that huge numbers will flout whatever limit is in force.
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So in the sweep of a pen, St Clements Constable, Len Norman,with the agreement of a Minister, apparently believing he has the power to change the law, can reduce the lawful island wide speed limit of 40 mph to 30 mph on almost all major roads in that parish.Surely this is a matter for proper debate in the States, as to whether reducing the 40 mph limit to 30 mph to follow Guernsey, should be island wide and not just limited to decisions by the Constables of individual parishes.
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The cycles will still be without lights and riders ignore all the rules without any evidence of enforcement.
Clarkson for Constable?
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If my memory serves me right, the last innocent bystander to be killed in a road accident had her car T-Boned by a speeding Police car – All the other fatal accidents since have been caused by the drivers stupidity, resulting in the death of either driver or passengers. I dont think the strict imposition of a 30 mph limit will have any effect, other than to entrap people going about their daily business.
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Never go to St Clement anyway so I’m alright! Why not close all the roads and have done with cars, would stop all the accidents? Better still why not bring back the train from Gorey, I may then start travelling though St Clements!
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Q – how can you be hit by a car at any speed if you are looking where you are going.
A – you can’t.
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Pathetic
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Madness how can one parish be out of sync with the other 11. Just make the whole island 40 mph and let people drive with common sense. Also make every newcomer to the island take a driving test to our rigid standards and not just swap licences from other countries. After all our kid have to jump through hoops to get their local licences.
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Snails ‘R Us
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Pathetic, just pathetic! This decision was obviously taken at parochial level and voted upon by 3 mums and a granny!These sorts of decisions should be taken by the elected members of the states with island wide consultation. I am on the road all the time and stupid slow speeds like this are UNSAFE. Good god, what fools we have making these decisions. So PC eh?
Think about it, these are the freedoms we take for granted and one by one they are being taken away. its the serious speeders that need to be targeted and yet here we go again, the innocent law abiding public who enjoy driving at 40mph are now criminalised.
Did the Nazis really leave Jersey? I think not!
GET RID OF THE CONNETABLES!
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7) Dave, 2 a breast is legal so why you “tooting” them? no wonder you get the v signs!
I don’t know much about the race bikes but i’ve sat behind the faster ones doing 25mph, so in theory we will have to just sit behind them so we don’t go over 30mph doing an overtake.
There will be alot more fustrated drivers doing danger overtakes in general.
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One small step for speed limits, a giant leap for an Islandwide 20 MPH speed limit.
This is a long awaited victory for my campaign. I am sooo happy!
My fight continues.
Rose
x
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Also this inconsiderate decision has been made by a few people who obviously aren’t that interested in cars and driving. I have a nice car and it is quite safe to driver at 40 mph. The dangerous thing is once these stupid decisions are made then it is very hard to go back on the. As someone said this should go to a public vote.
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How many accidents have there been caused by speeding? only 4% of accidents in the UK are caused by speeding, the other 96% are caused by bad driving, why isn’t this being addressed.
Driving at 30mph is less economical therefore it has a greater environmental impact, that said more fule will be sold meaning more tax raised.
We have elderly drivers pottering about at 15 – 20mph, they are more dangerous than competant drivers. Modern cars have complex safety systems and can stop in half the distance quoted in the highway code.
How is this being permitted and for what reason, the coast road is a good quality road with relatively little housing, does it need a 40mph limit, those who choose to speed will do so irrespective of the speed limit. I can only imagine that the motivation is to catch confused tourists speeding and sell more petrol – cash cow, oh and those ignorant people who think speed is dangerous will be satisfied, probably the same idiots trundling along at 20mph.
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21 – it may be legal (I don’t know) but it isn’t courteous. It is a more difficult to safely overtake two cyclists riding abreast than in single file.
As to the speed limits… does anyone actually have any evidence to suggest that this reduction will reduce the number of accidents?
There are plenty of places where 40mph is perfectly safe, it’s just the bad drivers that cause the problems and they’ll still be causing them even if the speed limit is 30.
To CJ @ 18 – not everyone can swap their licence for a Jersey one. You have to have passed your test in a country which is deemed equivalent, e.g. the UK. I certainly have some colleagues who have moved here and had to re-take their driving tests.
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I drove along the inner road at 30 mph last night and my god, it felt slow. I counted at least 15 cars behind me, all probaly very irrate. I can’t wait to see the turmoil when this atupid speed limit is fully put in place. Mr Norman, you will not be getting my vote for your next term.
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Rosemary Bead..What possible justification do you have for your campaign. Do you really think our roads would be safer if we all drove at 20! If you have any evidence that this would be the case then please convince us, we are all waiting.
Or is it that you are only capable yourself of driving at this speed then if so should you be on the road in the first place!
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27 Tricky – Rosemary Bead..What possible justification do you have for your campaign. Do you really think our roads would be safer if we all drove at 20! If you have any evidence that this would be the case then please convince us, we are all waiting.
Or is it that you are only capable yourself of driving at this speed then if so should you be on the road in the first place!
Mate Bead is a wind up, she/he was rumbled ages ago and has since kept quiet. I guess she/he couldn’t resist posting on a speed reduction topic.
Mrs Bead – go and get another name, this one has expired past it’s use by date.
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I have heard that the reason that Sir Len of Norman decided to up the limit was due to a survey sent out to St Clements residents. Appartently less than 800 people said yes to the lower limit (That is less than 10% of the parish population!!!), so he lowered it !
Not exactely bowing down to the masses then.!
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Mrs Bead’s mistake was to go for an unrealistic speed limit for her campaign (which bears all the hallmarks of a wind up).
If she had gone for 30mph she would have had a lot of support from genuinely skilled, defensive, drivers and proportionately less stick from most of the above self styled skilled drivers.
30mph is the standard speed limit in built up areas in the UK. most of the roads concerned have footways and are usually significantly better laid out, lit, wider and safer than in Jersey. Sure, a lot of people disregard the limit. That’s their choice. I try not to do so because I can see the sense behind the rules.
Speed limits aren’t just about how well post 1982 cars brake. They are also about how hard cars hit each other or pedestrians or walls when the driver wasn’t paying enough attention to slow down or brake skilfully.
I am disappointed, to say the least, that so many drivers in Jersey (of all places, where road courtesy is above average) are unable to see the sense behind speed limits.
No doubt you are all the world’s most skilled drivers, which in your eyes qualifies you to go everywhere fast. Every year quite a few of you get it wrong, though and end up in the ditch, in Anne Port Bay, in the road below the one you thought you were in, etc.
I am one of the world’s better drivers because I can keep within speed limits without having to keep looking at the speedo or falling asleep as some you say you do (how pathetic an excuse, in both cases). I am constantly assessing the situation well ahead of the immediate vicinity of my front bumper and most of the time when driving in Jersey 40mph areas I decide that somewhere around 30 is adequate, allowing for the unexpected and that I am either driving something that weighs two tons and could do a lot of damage or a small car that I am likely to become a squashed sardine in.
There are some stretches of road in Jersey where one can constantly see drivers putting their foot down to the floor because they like the sound of a revving engine despite the fact that cars might nose out of driveways etc. There is absolutely nothing clever about this ‘skill’, just stupidity.
Defensive driving should be everyones aim, rather than trying to justify the use of high speeds on the strenth of being ‘skilled’. Who says you are skilled other than yourselves and your admirers?
It takes a different skill to realise that a right to go at 40mph as much as possible is totally inappropriate on most of the island’s roads. If the only way that this can be taught is by lowering the limit, then so be it. Lower it.
Mr Norman and 800 parishioners you are right, but don’t expect me to say that you are right if you start asking for road humps because I don’t see why I should be punished for the sins of others. a 30mph speed limit is not a punishment, it is a good idea.
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Jersey’s roads would be a hell of a lot safer if seat belts were removed from cars, and comprehensive car insurance was outlawed, with motorists being responsible for their own damage, regardless of blame or cause.
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I have tried driving at 30 and timed trips into and out of town.
From Trinity to Gorey and St Helier to St Brelade.
I have timed both ways on both routes only twice but the difference in travel time has so far not been measurable.
i have been overtaken but I just catch them up when they hit the traffic so they only end up one car length in front.
I was very surprised that lowering driving speed actually made no difference to travel time.
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I drive a Honda Jazz and I like to enforce the speed limits.
I take great pride in my ability to drive along at just under 30 mph. On the St Clement coast road, I like to maintain a steady 24 mph.
I find that this ploy is particularly effective at between 8 and 9 in the morning and 5 to 6 in the evening.
Very often, I catch sight of a red-faced driver in my mirror. How I chuckle to myself! I won’t pull over because these people shouldn’t be driving any faster than me and they should jolly well leave home earlier!
I wear a flat cap when I drive and my wife often gasses to me while we tootle along. It is such fun looking at all the houses as we drive; better than the raod ahead! Given the fact that i have driven along these raods for nigh on 50 years, it never ceases to amaze me how interesting the passing scenary can be.
I have considered removing my rear view mirrors so that I can’t see all the angry faces behind but I am told that that might be illegal. As it is, I don’t use indicators but then, at 20 odd mph, I suppose you don’t need them really!
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Why not solve the problem in one swoop ban all cars from St Clement.We are being run by imbecile so its a case of take it, take it, take it.like it or not.
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I heartily agree with “the future” at 33. If you drive two cars along the same route, one at 30 mph and the other at 40 or even 50 mph, they both get there at the same time! I wonder why the emergency services bother with their sirens; they could just as easily go at 30 because they won’t get there any faster.
I guess motor racing is now redundant as well. I hope that some physicist looks into this interesting theory. Why not just impose (because that is what it is, a dictatorship directive made without a proper, primary law or public consultatation) a 10 mph limit?
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#36 ‘I guess motor racing is now redundant as well.’
Hopefully.
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the future#33
I agree a limit of 30 in the 40mph areas we have now would make little or no difference to journey times, especially in traffic.
The short bursts of 40mph are the problem when collisions occur. These have closing speeds to 80mph.
It’s the lowering of impact speeds that will save lives and lessen injury, and as the vast majority of our RTCs are with law abiding motorists, at, or below present speed limits, the lowering of impact speeds are sure to follow if limits are lowered.
Lower impact speeds = less injury, simples?
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PJG #38
How about concentrating on avoiding the impacts in the first place? Driving at 40mph with full concentration on the road and potential hazards ahead is preferable to driving 30mph whilst thinking what you’re going to have for dinner or fiddling with the radio.
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joker#39
Good idea!
And to make that happen,
How about making everyone take a driving test every 3 years, (as H&S dictates for fork lift drivers etc).
We could make the test so difficult only the best of drivers could pass.
That way we would drive (excuse the pun) everybody who falls below this high standard off the road.
Think, no Johnny foreigner drivers (their standards would be way below ours), no little old ladies (except maybe Jenson Buttons granny), no low experience teenagers, If you had a cold you could be temporarily disqualified (a refresher course and test on recovery, mandatory) my wife (probably me as well) How about you Joker do you fancy a more difficult test than the one we have now, every 3 years? That should do lot towards lowering the occurrences of impact
(Might affect our enjoyment of this safer life a bit though?)
Or then we could be “realistic” accept the standards of driving we have now, and lower the speed limits to accommodate this “low standard” that everybody is complaining about in everybody else.(I notice not one driver on here is saying they are a bad driver)
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Where can I get one of those special licences that allow you to do 70mph on the Avenue? Recently I’ve had several cars whizz past me when I was doing 40 in the slow lane, obviously they have a better licence than mine. The other day it was a taxi cab doing that! And he overtook on the inside and went through an amber light when he could have stopped easily. You’d think that a cab driver would value his licence and livelihood more, no? (it wasn’t a rank taxi, but then I did follow one of them very slowly through St.Peter’s Valley last year as he ate an apple!)
Shooting red lights is an epidemic these days too.
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While we are at it why not do what Bermuda does one car per household and nothing over 2000cc !!!
Sorry its the nanny state gone mad
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How about allowing people to drive quickly and toot horns at certain times of the week – say between 3am and 4am on Sunday mornings?
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Re #42, Bermuda’s restrictions on motor vehicle numbers force people onto mopeds. Apparently Bermuda is tagged Accident Capital of the World !
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This new limit has nothing to do with safety. It is all about politics. Years ago St Clement voted at a Parish Assembly for 30mph on its by-roads. That was by a pressure group based around Green Island.
This new limit has not been agreed by an Assembly, therefore is is a dictatorship by the constable, no doubt egged on by that small pressure group. Trouble is, until he became constable, he never attended Parish meetings or took any interest in the parish, so he wouldn’t know the difference between pressure groups and general opinion.
It is a requiement, after all, that people drive according to the road conditions prevailing. At night, with no traffic or pedestrians about, 60mph would be quite acceptable on, say, the coast road. At school times when children are about, or when roads are wet or icy is a different matter.
Statistics will eventually show an increase in accidents from this 30mph nonsense as drivers going slowly tend to go on ‘auto pilot’ and don’t concentrate fully.
It’s worth noting that the pressure group previously demanded, and got, a traffic island outside Avalon. It proved to be so dangerous (and hardly any pedestrians used it anyway) that it was taken away after a few weeks. What a waste of taxpayers money.
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Pressure groups are a nuisance. Like all this plastic bag nonsense. Why can’t people mind their own business!?
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#45 ‘At night, with no traffic or pedestrians about, 60mph would be quite acceptable on, say, the coast road.’
Colonel, you must be joking! Try living on a road where they already go in for this lunacy. It is totally unnecessary and inconsiderate as well as foolish. Is it any wonder that when they get it wrong they end up dead or mutilated against a tree or a gatepost?
On the St Clement’s coast road of all places. Five Mile Road perhaps, but even that was responsible for a well known ‘In Memoriam’ appearing for many years, probably due to a deceptive bend.
The coast road is one long continuous series of hazards. You should have your licence endorsed for even suggesting the idea!
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I would refer readers to the cartoon at the top of page 13 in the current edition of ‘Private Eye’.
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Re: #48.
Is the Constable’s house on that side of the road?
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