The Bwlch yr Oernant/Horseshoe Pass isn't the busiest road for people from Rhuthun/Ruthin but it is Rhuthun's gateway to the A5, the English midlands and the M6(S). Threatened consultation on a speed limit or none, the A542 that goes over the Horseshoe Pass will be the subject of a significant length of 40 mph speed limit later this year. Just watch, wait & see.
Should we be persuaded by the Llangollen councillor who feels that the £20,000 cost of an A542 restriction is unwarranted because the police are unlikely to enforce. He's discovered that, since 2009, the police have prosecuted a solitary driver for exceeding the current 60 mph limit. Yet, a death or serious injury each costs the taxpayer £1½mil (according to the BBC), 75 times that of introducing a limit.
How, then, do you justify the status quo? Can you? How do you get across the concept to the ordinary motorist that you can't measure safe driving in miles per hour. It isn't the road or its lack of a limit that's inherently dangerous but the inappropriate speed of some of those who use it. Attaching a blanket restriction is harsh on those sensible motorists who drive according to the conditions they see. But what other option is there? And much of where we are is at the door of the irresponsible motorcyclist. This is a stretch of road favoured by the biker community.
In other words, the majority of sensible motorists must pay for the antics of the idiot few.
But let's not delude ourselves that people will stick to the new limit. I struggle to remember the name of the current police chief constable but I do remember his enigmatic predecessor Brunstrom—because of his unremitting policy on speeders. Yet, even then, there were enough who didn't care, bother or understand appropriate speed.
Many motorists will be oblivious to any 40 limit on the Horseshoe Pass. After all, limits are ignored elsewhere, even in Brunstrom's time. A classic is the A525 over the Denbighshire border in Wrecsam. That and the Old Ruthin Road is now set progressively at 50, 40 and 30. Smug though it sounds, I often wonder whether I am the only driver sticking to the new limits.
Motorists are incredibly arrogant towards speed (and their own abilities). Attitudes to speed have never caught up with those for drink-driving. Some'll chance it if they feel 40 mph on the Horseshoe Pass isn't a natural speed for the road. It may even force motorists to take risks in overtaking that old Folfo driver who conscientiously sticks to 39½ mph throughout.
Part 2 here
How, then, do you justify the status quo? Can you? How do you get across the concept to the ordinary motorist that you can't measure safe driving in miles per hour. It isn't the road or its lack of a limit that's inherently dangerous but the inappropriate speed of some of those who use it. Attaching a blanket restriction is harsh on those sensible motorists who drive according to the conditions they see. But what other option is there? And much of where we are is at the door of the irresponsible motorcyclist. This is a stretch of road favoured by the biker community.
In other words, the majority of sensible motorists must pay for the antics of the idiot few.
But let's not delude ourselves that people will stick to the new limit. I struggle to remember the name of the current police chief constable but I do remember his enigmatic predecessor Brunstrom—because of his unremitting policy on speeders. Yet, even then, there were enough who didn't care, bother or understand appropriate speed.
Many motorists will be oblivious to any 40 limit on the Horseshoe Pass. After all, limits are ignored elsewhere, even in Brunstrom's time. A classic is the A525 over the Denbighshire border in Wrecsam. That and the Old Ruthin Road is now set progressively at 50, 40 and 30. Smug though it sounds, I often wonder whether I am the only driver sticking to the new limits.
Motorists are incredibly arrogant towards speed (and their own abilities). Attitudes to speed have never caught up with those for drink-driving. Some'll chance it if they feel 40 mph on the Horseshoe Pass isn't a natural speed for the road. It may even force motorists to take risks in overtaking that old Folfo driver who conscientiously sticks to 39½ mph throughout.
Part 2 here