Call for 20mph speed limit across Oswestry centre
Wednesday 10th November 2010, 11:15AM GMT.
A blanket 20mph speed limit should be imposed across Oswestry town centre, a councillor has said. The call follows the move to impose the speed limit near schools.
The town will soon have four 20mph limits around schools as part of Shropshire Council’s safe schools project.
Now town councillor Saffron Rainey has suggested that the limit be extended throughout Oswestry town centre.
Councillor Rainey, who also has a business in Oswestry, said he feared traffic problems could force shoppers out to the larger shopping areas such as Shrewsbury and Chester.
“There will soon be four 20mph areas in Oswestry, around our schools,” he said.
“We should simply join these up to encompass the whole of the town.”
Imposing speed limits is the responsibility of Shropshire Council.
The authority’s head of transportation, Martin Withington, said there was already a precedent to whole town speed limits.
“Portsmouth’s residential streets have a 20mph speed limit. However they did have a mean speed closer to the speed limit before it was imposed.”
Mr Withington said Shropshire Council always listened to residents’ views. He said: “If local people tell us they want a 20mph speed limit then we will listen and try to work with them.”
He said there was an ongoing national consultation exercise looking at whole town speed limits.
A 20mph limit outside Oswestry’s Our Lady and St Oswald’s primary school could be extended. Shropshire Council is consulting on extending the safer school zone further along Upper Brook Street to include Oswestry School.
Another 20mph zone is also proposed by Holy Trinity School, in Middleton Road.
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Let’s retrofit all cars with new gearboxes while we’re at it, so they’re optimised for driving at 20mph. Or drive everywhere in second gear.
Alternatively, how about more stringent enforcement of the existing 30mph limit?
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There are 20mph limits outside schools in Shrewsbury. How often do the law enforcers slow down to the correct speed when driving through them?
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The way to deal with traffic problems is simple.
Make it illegal for any person to own a self propelled vehicle.
Our streets would love homely with horses and carriages – maybe even a few rickshaws?
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I’ve got no problem at all with a 20mph speed limit,the question is how are you going to police it?
Most people seem to think that the law applies to everyone except them and a simple word of advice by Mr Plod is then turned on its head with the old chestnut ‘ haven’t you got anything better to do, why aren’t you out catching murderers,rapists..etc etc’.
They’re normally the same ones that park half a mile either side of the school gates for the hour before kicking out time in the afternoon,just think of how far you could walk in an hour, how much fitter you’d be and how much money you’d save on car running costs.
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If the 30 mph restriction is ignored, so will the 20 mph be.
Near schools, build chicanes with priority signs, add decent sized speed bumps.
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^ this
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This is pleasing. But I’d go much, much further and ban all motor vehicles from the town and insist that bicycles and horses are used instead.
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OK, even better idea. allow only emergency vehicles, PSV, S19, Minibuses, taxis, HGV, LGV, into Oswestry. the rest can park and ride. :D
No, but seriously, 20mph near school marker areas where there is a large amount of children at set times. how would these be marked if a blanket 20 was in force?
There are issues that arise from this idea. The road in Oswestry are not suited for swift movement of emergency vehicles around the town and at most times they can only travel at the speed of the vehicles in front of them. So on some single lane roads be travelling at 20mph. Slowing response time. But he wont be too worried he live aprox 1 miles from ambulance station and Is well within response times.
He should be worried about traffic problems like tail backs due to car trying to enter central car park (town council owned) that could easily be sorted with a yellow box marking on the road.
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To clarify, I suggested that a 20MPH limit be extended across the town centre not the whole town. As for the comments about enforcement this applies to 30MPH zones as much to 20MPH zones. Our local police force have to be encouraged to on occasion enforce designated limits. As for the emergency services they by their nature are allowed to break speed limits if required to fulfill their obligations.
The advantages of 20MPH limits
*Safer streets for everyone; pedestrians, cyclists, other drivers.
*Calming effect on the street-scape making town centres more people focused rather than car focused.
*Less emissions so cleaner towns.
*re-blances the priorities of town centres towards its citizens and away from motorists.
*Makes sense in Oswestry where the majority of the streets in the town centre are unsuitable to driving at 30MPH. This last point would I am sure apply to all Shropshire’s market towns.
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Firstly whats the point of lower the speed limit to 20mph when people struggle to stick to 30mph.
Secondly 20mph on brook street???? Whjat difference will that make as the road by the school yopu cant even do 30mph on anyway is this just not a waste of time on this poarticular road?
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@Oswestry Lady
from a recent survey done by Shropshire Council 15% of drivers on Upper Brook Street drive at over 30MPH. The point of any speed limit is to act as a deterent and as a guide. People break the speed limit but also a large proportion of the public like to stay within the bounds of the law. By imposing a 20MPH limit this should have the effect of calming traffic across the whole of the town centre. Of course some people will ignore the speed limit but I suspect most won’t and that will improve the quality of the town.
To make the 20MPH limit work we would need the colboration of the Police to make occasional speed enforcement programs on the town’s streets.
We must make our towns for the people not for their cars.
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