‘Lower speed limits unnecessary’

The decision was made by Environment & Infrastructure recently to reduce the limit on about 80 island roads from 35 to 25mph.

‘Drivers need to get used to driving at a bit of speed because when teenagers take their cars to university the motorway is a shock,’ said Dave Sheppard, owner of Driving School of Motoring.

‘It is self-governing and as long as you drive to the conditions of the road there’s not a lot of places to drive at 35mph anyway because naturally things get in the way, like delivery vans, post vans, bikes and buses.’

He believed Guernsey divers will not be able to prove they can drive on fast roads and will then be unable to cope when driving abroad.

‘If you’re driving behind a push bike going 20mph, I’m going to have to tell my pupils that they have to sit behind it because they need to go at least 10mph faster to overtake safely,’ he added.

‘Cyclists will get cut up more and it’s going to make the roads more dangerous.’

Go Green Driving School owner Alan Gunningham said: ‘There needs to be a standard here as it’s totally ludicrous to have speeds that are not correct for the areas.

‘I trained in England and it’s very easy to tell students how to identify what speed you should be doing because of the size of the road and speeds signs properly placed.

‘At the moment here you drive down a road that can’t fit two cars down and it’s 35mph, then you go down a road that can and it’s 25mph.’

Mr Gunningham added he thought the reduction in speed limits was the government trying to ‘look good from a political perspective’.

‘I mailed the head of Environment & Infrastructure inviting them to come for a drive to see the state of our roads and I had no answer.’

When the E&I consulted on its plan, 55% of respondents objected.

Since the announcement of the reduced speed limits a petition has been started calling for committee to resign immediately.

More than 2,747 people have currently signed the petition, including Cann School of Motoring owner, Nick Dorey.

‘Changing the speed limits is pointless,’ he said.

‘We don’t have the problems on our roads a lot of people think we have.

‘I do agree with safety, but we have more pressing things than messing around with road speeds.’

An E&I spokesman sought to explain the committee’s position.

‘Whilst the ability to test learner drivers in Guernsey on their use of appropriate speed is somewhat limited by the presence of a maximum speed limit of 35mph, the proposed introduction of 25mph speed limits on just a couple of roads that are included in some of the driving tests is not going to have any meaningful impact on the current test process.

‘Indeed, there are other equally challenging scenarios, such as navigating narrow and often busy roads, which ensure that candidates are tested to an appropriate level here in Guernsey.

‘As with the consultation process, it is inevitable that not everyone will support all aspects of the proposals, but the committee has gone to great lengths to explain the reasons for progressing with this road safety initiative.’