Coming soon... the slowing down of traffic on
the A542 Horseshoe Pass is being hurried through (excuse the pun). This is
yet another stretch of road where Ruthinians will find a hindering, unnecessarily low speed limit.
Yet, the motives for the change are sound. The road is abused, by boy racers who congregate at the viewpoint lay-by or Ponderosa; and by a myriad of irresponsible bikers. In 2012, two died on this stretch of road.
It’s like everything else, though. The road itself is not inherently dangerous—if you drive appropriately to the conditions you find.
As always, it’s the idiot few who spoil it for the rest of us. There are parts of the road where you wouldn't naturally go above 40 and there are equally areas where 50 or even 60 is safe (depending upon the conditions at the time). A four-mile blanket 40 mph limit is therefore unnecessary, except for the few who cannot seem to make a distinction between safety and senselessness.
And that few will likely ignore the limit, anyway. The chances of enforcement are slim to none. Law abiding motorists who know when it’s safe to accelerate and who will stick to 40 will no doubt find themselves under pressure and then overtaken by those who have a contempt for the law.
If you read the motorbiking press, you will discover that few if any bikers were in favour of the limit. In one, we read, 'It does almost feel like the Ponderosa café has scored its own goal here, the new 40mph limit will obviously deter some bikers, in favour of other roads with higher speed limit'. As bikers contribute virtually nothing to the local economy safe for noise, nuisance and danger, we trust that this prediction is correct.
The stretch of road
was deemed to be '40' as part of Denbighshire council’s 2014 speed limit review. It was
blocked by the then Llangollen county councillor Stuart Davies. He missed out at the 2017 election. There was a second review, which resulted in local councillors from Llangollen and Llandegla supporting the proposed limit. Consultation was in the summer of 2020, during which there were many objections from around the UK, principally from motorcyclists. The process ground to a halt. In January 2022, the council began planning for a hasty installation of the limit. This was so the traffic order could be in place ahead of the May 2022 local elections, in case vetoing Cllr Stuart Davies was again elected.
* Stupid born-again-middle-aged bikers
