Residents in favour of some roads having 25mph limit
RESIDENTS around some roads in line to have their speed limits lowered from 35mph to 25mph have said they would like to see the changes voted through.
The Environment & Infrastructure proposals, which affect roads in nearly every parish, go before the States later this month.
Deputies Carl Meerveld and Jeremy Smithies are trying to block the change.
Among the roads set to have the limit dropped is La Route du Braye, from the junction with Les Mares Pellees towards the Bridge.
Rosaline Tanquerel has lived on the road for seven years and often walks along it to take her son to school. ‘I think lowering the speed limit would be quite a good thing,’ she said.
‘It is busy and trucks do mount the pavement. However, it is more the size, rather than the speed [that worries me].’
Michael Lohmeier agreed that the larger vehicles using the road were the problem.
‘Some of them mount the footpaths, like buses and trucks,’ he said.
‘I think for lorries and buses it should be 25mph.’
The island speed limit for any vehicle over two tonnes is already 25mph.
In Any Event owner Lucy Prevel had mixed feelings about the speed limit review.
‘In a road like this I think it’s a good idea, but I don’t think it is necessary in all the other roads,’ she said.
She was concerned that E&I had chosen to make whole areas 25mph – such as around L’Islet – rather than looking at the merits of the individual roads.
Ruette de la Tour is another road that could have its limit cut. The largely single-track lane connects the back of Saumarez Park with Cobo village and is currently 35mph. Under the proposals the lower 245m of the road, heading into Cobo village, would become 25mph. However, the news came as a surprise to some of the lane’s residents. There does not appear to be a 35mph speed limit sign as drivers leave the 25mph zone. Instead there is a Ruette Tranquille sign, with a recommended speed limit of 15mph.
Rachel Osborn has lived in the road for 11 years and now has two children – aged five and two years old. ‘I hadn’t realised it was 35mph,’ she said.
‘People do go up the road quite quickly. Lots of people do walk up and down here to the park, so there are a lot of pedestrians, so it could be a bit slower.’
Liene Head has lived in the lane for eight years. ‘I think it would be a good thing,’ she said. ‘There are lots of mums and buggies and children.’
She said few people drove at 35mph along the road, but thought it would be a good thing to slow the speed and make it safer.
In total, the roads affected broadly affect local centres and main centre outer areas, as defined in the Island Development Plan.
A public consultation E&I held showed that 55% of those who responded were against the changes.
