Drivers ignoring speed limits at diversions

Guernsey Electricity is carrying out cabling upgrades between Le Bourg and Le Chene and as of yesterday morning traffic heading to the airport from Town was being sent behind the airport, thorough part of St Saviour’s and emerging near St Peter’s Village.

This route is about three miles long and can take about 10 minutes due to speed restrictions at some points.

But while the speed limit is meant to be 20mph, one resident of Route des Bas Courtils said that a lot of drivers still seemed to be driving at the usual 35mph speed limit along that stretch of road.

‘I had a hell of a job getting out of here this morning,’ said Mrs Mitchell, who would not give her first name.

‘You get lorries, buses and sewage lorries.’

Although there are several 20mph signs along the route, she thought there could be more to make it clearer to motorists.

Korinne Le Page lives in a house along Rue du Gron and said that cars often treated a section of that road as a race track.

‘This is one of those routes you hear a lot of cars racing along,’ she said.

While she thought some sorts of restrictions could be imposed she was dubious about what kind.

‘For residents, we don’t want to see any sleeping policemen,’ she said.

‘But then it’s a calmer day we live with it. And I suppose if there’s more traffic they won’t use it as a race track.’

Route des Bas Courtils resident Suzanne Chapman said she had trouble getting out of her property’s drive, ‘but it’s a temporary thing’, she said.

But there was an upside to the diversion. Under normal circumstances buses passing her house were going to Town only and if she wanted to catch a bus to St Martin’s she and her husband would have to go to the Forest Road.

‘But we get loads of buses coming past us now so we have a choice of which bus to catch to go to St Martin’s,’ said Mrs Chapman.

Travellers are being warned to leave extra time to get to the airport. The roadworks are due to finish on Friday 8 March.