Here's a paraphrased summary of the chatter around Rhuthun last week, ahead of today's 20 mph change. It's from the street and from the pub (not Facebook), and it's genuinely what I've heard.
| In favour of 20 mph | 🙂 |
| Against 20 mph | 👿 |
| Neutral or resigned | 😲 |
Approaching the town yesterday along Ffordd Glasdir (so-called by-pass) and by the highways depot these new 30 mph signs appeared last week. They delimit where the 20 mph starts today. The 3s are peel-able to reveal 2s. By 8.00 a.m. the peel-able signs still showed 30
😲 'Motorists have an inbuilt inability to keep to any speed limit. I can't help thinking that had none of us abused the 30 mph limit then we may not be in the predicament we are now in, thanks to the pending 20 mph. We've brought it on ourselves.'
👿 'I’d say it's safer on the road than on the stairs of your house. ROSPA agrees. My search engine reckoned 55 per cent of accidents happen in the home but only 10 per cent on the road. The Welsh government isn't addressing the right risks. I don't hear the Welsh government legislating to ensure future homes are stairless bungalows, much less to demolish the first flour of every house. Maybe it should.'
👿 Automatic boxes will hunt between gears and those with manual transmission will tire of continually changing up and down between 2nd and 3rd. These factors are going to be much more polluting.'
🙂 'If motorists are so concerned about their emissions at 20 mph then they wouldn't be buying lumpy waste-of-metal SUVs or executive cars that add unnecessary weight and therefore emissions. Or they'd be scaling back their mileage. Or both. But neither seems to be happening.'
👿 'How will the 20 mph limit affect boy racers, the very culprits who are a danger to themselves and to others? Not a jot. They'll continue to show contempt for the existing and new limits. It'll be the ordinary motorist who'll get caught at five mph over, as usual. It's a money-making exercise'.
🙂 'There does seem to be support for 20 mph around schools and in residential areas. But what of those poor people who live on main roads whose lives are blighted by the motor car? So that the rest of us can have the freedom we crave, those living on main roads actually have no freedom at all. Most crashes happen on main and not residential roads (apparently).'
🙂 'Opponents also cite continually looking at the speedo being off-putting and dangerous. What are they doing at 30 mph, then? Not watching their speedo? And, anyway, it's a *glance* at the speedometer. There's no need to stare at it.'
👿 'It's a farce. How come we can legally travel at 60 mph on our country lanes yet be forced to travel at 20 in town?'
👿 'No one will keep to this stupidity. The Welsh government is relying on trailblazer zealots or more accurately 'snailblazers' to hold everyone up.'
😲 'It's not ideal but at least it gives the all-powerful motoring lobby a bloody nose.'
😲 'At least 20 mph will make texting behind the wheel so much easier.'
Tags:
Traffic