Broadway 30mph limit

[brian]

40 signs have gone from Broadway and all roads approaching Broadway have new 30mph limit signs. Don't forget there's a camera at the bottom of Broadway bridge, it's going to get some use!

[WillowTheWhisp]

What was the previous speed limit on there? I'd have thought for a residential area it should have been 30mph anyway.

[brian]

It's been 40mph since I passed my test 33 years ago. Not your usual built up area, the grass verges are wider than the council houses down Christie Ave and the houses set even further back.

Some of the traffic management the county council have implemented are hard to understand. Take White Lund Road, locals campaigned for speed control for many years. When they finally got it approved, the council put in one of those width restrictors which, rather than control speed, saw drivers race through it seeing how fast they dare. All the locals wanted were speed bumps.

[trevnhil]

Is a 30 MPH speed limit necessary?? Probably. There is no doubt that modern day traffic travels faster than that of yesteryear. When you are not in a traffic jam of course. Broadway has never been a road that was normally subject to traffic queues, except when you are trying to get out onto Marine road.

Of course an added hazard is when cars reverse out onto the road from their driveways. But, as has been mentioned there is a wide strip of grass and therefore visibility is good.

Here is a Google Street View picture when it was 40MPH, complete with speed camera.



Regards. Trev..

[accykeef]

I have driven down there a few times over the last few days and 30mph is hard to keep to.
Some of the modern day road furniture is downright stupid. Drivers spend so much time avoiding humps, bumps, bollards and all manner of sticky out bits that they have not got time to watch for numb pedestrians.

[WillowTheWhisp]

I thought the limit was automatically 30mph when street lamps were a certsain distance apart. They look about 25yards apart along Broadway. We have a road here in Accrington (Hyndburn Rd for anybody who knows it - Keef ) which is very misleading and at one time there were no signs along it to say what the speed limit was. Along a mile or so of road there was a garage, a DIY place set well back and only approachable from the end of the road, a supermarket approached at a traffic light junction (one of only two junctions), a school which is separated from the road by high metal railings, one or two houses very spaced out, and a row of houses set further back with separate sort of access road thingy in front of them. Yet we got done on there for doing 32mph when they were having a zero tolerance blitz. That was far less of a 'built up area' than Broadway. The police made me late for work that day by stopping us and I was not a happy bunny.

It now has a McDonalds and a KFC and a fire station - and some speed limit signs!

[brian]

Correct, street lamps at regular intervals and no other speed signs = 30mph. Problem is, everyone's used to it being 40. If you approach from a side road, the signs are obvious probably because you stop at them. If you approach from the promenade or Shrimp roundabout when most times you approach at speed, the "new speed limit" signs aren't so easy to see. If they replaced the 40 signs with 30 signs along Broadway, I'd be happier.

Anyway, talking of speed signs, I often travel from Hull and Sheffield cross-country and aim for Clitheroe. There's a dual carriageway near Accrington where there seems to be a challenge, how quickly can the speed signs be sprayed grey ;D ;D

[ukuleleron]

I think that the speed at which a speed camera is set should be displayed on the rear of the unit.
Of course that would mean taking your eyes off the road to glance at the speedo - ever noticed how many cameras are positioned just beyond pedestrian crossings? how dangerous is that!

[WillowTheWhisp]

I think too much concern over speed limits can cause accidents from people keep checking the speedo instead of watching the road. We have a little beep on the satnav which tells you if you creep over the limit. Interestingly with both the current car and the previous one the speedo shows faster than the satnav.

[brian]

A speedo usually reads higher than actual speed. That way, you're not going to get a speeding ticket if you stick to the limit according to the speedo, unlike if the speedo showed a lower than actual speed. Of course, it would be great if they were perfect but they're not so better showing faster than slower.

I was once told that there's a 10% allowance on speeding e.g. you will only get done at 33 in a 30 zone (30 + 10% = 33). Whether that's true or not, no idea.

My satnav beeps when I'm speeding but it doesn't beep at 71 on a motorway, it beeps at 74.

[extrastrongmint]

I don't mind the fact that they speed limit has been reduced to 30mph, BUT where are the b****y signs!!! Is that deliberate I wonder?

esm xx

[trevnhil]

I don't think they need, by law to put any signs up. The whole area is now a 30 MPH limit and the signs are at the entrance to that limit.

There is one on the coastal road around the golf club, and I am not sure if the limit changes as you leave Heysham for Middleton. There will be a 30 MPH sign at each end of the Heysham by pass. Morecambe Road used to have two different limits but I just don't know what the current situation is along there.

Trev..

[accykeef]

30mph on Broadway just feels like everything is happening in slow motion. I wasn't aware of there being numerous accidents on Broadway which gave the 'Snail Lobby' cause to drop the speed limit.
I am getting sick of this mambypamby society where the powers that be deem it necessary to protect the dimwits, in our midst, from themselves. Slowing the traffic down to a snail's pace means that school kids can spend less time concentrating on the world around them and more time on their mobile phones.

There were those who believed that they could travel down there at 50 even 60 mph because they were above the law. From my observations, the same people are still exceeding the speed limit but it will not be those brainless few who get caught, it will be the innocents who exceed the absolute limit of 33mph by a few mph who get the tickets.

[extrastrongmint]

A *censored* wrote in to the Visitor last week claiming to be the person who contacted Preston Council HQ...and got the speed reduced.

esm xx

[trevnhil]

Presumably they thought that they were doing good. Especially as they have written to the Visitor. There will of course be many people who agree with the 30MPH limit, and many who disagree.

I suppose it just had to come sooner or later. It did seem strange that there was a 40MPH section (the only one I believe) in the middle of a town wide 30MPH zone.

Trev..