‘Make cars slow down in Dicq Road’

Monday 28th February 2011, 2:56PM GMT.

A scene in Dicq Road this morning

A BUSINESS owner has asked for a review of speed limits in Georgetown after witnessing several near accidents involving children on their way to St Luke’s School.

In a letter to Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur, Eddie McGarragle, of Cleveland Road, wrote that the road’s 30 mph sign, coupled with the one way system, leads to excessive speeds on a route used by many children on their way to school.

Mr McGarragle, a father of two pupils at St Luke’s, said: ‘You’ve got children as young as four going to St Luke’s. The pavements are very narrow – it only takes two of them walking side by side and one of them is on the road.

‘The cars fly up there. You only need to see a 30 mph sign and you’re doing 35. You see women with kids and older people walking along – they all look nervous. Everybody complains about it.’

1
Jersey Teenager

February 28, 2011 at 3:26 pm

Everybody?….

The main roads through Georgetown should be kept 30 mph but I do agree the little lanes inside it should be much lower as many people will walk through these “short cuts”, no pavements (or narrow pavements) so it does leave the pedestrians fairly exposed… Perhaps 20mph?

(A teenager suggesting speed limits should be reduced! What is this world coming to? )

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2
Mark

February 28, 2011 at 5:05 pm

I do love this comment “You only need to see a 30 mph sign and you’re doing 35.” Really? I have to say, when I see a 30mph speed limit sign I don’t suddenly start driving at 35mph.

The problem is, even if some of the narrower lanes were made 20mph limits as Jersey Teenager suggests, then those who speed now will still continue to speed.

Anyway, there are proposals already out for an revised Speed Limits Policy as put forward by TTS so Eddie McGarragle can sleep in peace knowing our esteemed leaders are on the case

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3
Keith

February 28, 2011 at 5:12 pm

Once again speed is blamed.
Speed limits do not stop speed, as proved by all the speed related accidents.
Education is the key, the standard of driving in jersey is appalling.
Some young/middle aged speed and the old spend more time looking at the scenery – you see they think they have the time as they are going so slowly…
Keep your eyes on the road, and educate those who need it…. oh, that would be everybody.

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4
J

February 28, 2011 at 7:00 pm

“walking side by side” – um, well, don’t then! But, we should encourage any parents who don’t need bratwagons to get Tarquins to school. A good percentage of the Georgetown traffic is 1 parent, 1 child (yes, I’ve often counted) – as with most local schools they’re worsening their own problems.

20mph at school time but PLEASE don’t naff about with the traffic in general.

NB weren’t Checkers s’posed to pay to redesign the junction near Recreation Grounds (which would stop school short-cutters)? Perhaps Waitrose would like to invest?

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5
nigel

February 28, 2011 at 7:48 pm

4 year children walking side by side! Alone? Surely they are with an adult who should be walking on the outside of them (nearest the traffic) to watch they come to no harm. If a child is in danger, then it’s the adult who is neglectful.

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6
Warren J

February 28, 2011 at 7:56 pm

Just in case anyone is wondering, that is NOT my Mercedes C Class obstruting the pavement !

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7
Mogit

February 28, 2011 at 9:33 pm

What a load of garbage!!! – Len Norman decided without due democratic process to lower the speed limit in St Clement to 30mph, basically to appease the electorate.
What we have seen in the past month are four serious incidents in the parish which has resulted in one fatality, now will someone please explain to me how the actions taken by the parish have any bearing on people choosing to speed, this always was and always will be just another exercise to swell the coffers of the parish and until such time as we introduce vehicular manslaughter, severe financial penalties and long-term loss of licence nothing will change the way the Jersey motorist acts!!!

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8
Fed up motorist

February 28, 2011 at 10:54 pm

Why change the speed limit ? Changing the speed limit is not the answer – sort out the appalling driving standards on the island first !

Take a look at the photo in the paper – there is clearly a car parked on a yellow line on a single lane road. Obstructing the view of traffic and restricting the width of the pavement. Will he get a ticket – hahahaha no way !

Ever taken a look on Wellington road at school chucking out time ? Or even on Sunday mornings ? To the car drivers – those are PAVEMENTS for pedestrians – not car parking spaces !

Same thing by St Saviours school every morning – double parking is illegal ! If you stop in the middle of the road to let your little darlings out of the car then don’t express too much surprise if they get run over as they step out of the car into the middle of the road without looking !

And as for the car driver on the coast road Sunday afternoon who seemed to think that because his car was bigger than my motorcycle he could pull onto my side of the road and drive straight at me ………………

Look around at the standard of driving before advocating reducing speed limits – very few accidents are caused by driving within existing speed limits.

Rant over !

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9
Jersey Teenager

February 28, 2011 at 11:50 pm

I would love to have a dig at the standards of driving over here because it is shocking (and seeing how easy our test is compared to the UK, I can see why!)

However I got slated for being “the Teenager with wisdom and experience” when moaning about driving standards in the snow last November, so I daren’t moan again now! :O

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10
Safe Driver

March 1, 2011 at 10:41 am

Mogit – dead right, Ex Sen Len’s insane reduction in the parish speed limit has only served to penalise and frustrate law abiding motorists. Those that routinely break the law will continue to do so, if anything this ill conceived limit causes frustration in otherwise law abiding drivers causing them to overtake cars doing 30mph.

Why is speed always blamed for road traffic incidents when statistics tell us it is a factor in only 5% of accidents, bad driving causes accidents, that and letting 4 year old kids walk on the road.

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11
Jersey Boy

March 1, 2011 at 12:37 pm

I live there, litterally. The girl in the pink coat is looking at my flat. lol

I never really noticed the problem to be honest.

The guy next door plays his music too loud though, if someone could look into that. I dont like heavy metal first thing in the morning shaking the walls.

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12
nigel

March 1, 2011 at 4:47 pm

~s 7 & 8: Agree entirely, lowering speed limits reduces driver’s concentration on road conditions.
The best way to improve car driving standards is to make every car driver pass a motorcycle test first, before being allowed to drive a car. You learn road conditions and look out for the unexpected on a motorcycle as it hurts when you hit the tarmac (I know from experience).

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