‘Twenty’s plenty for schools but much too slow elsewhere’
Wednesday 23rd March 2011, 2:29PM GMT.
PEOPLE were less than enthusiastic yesterday about the prospect of lowering the general speed limit across Guernsey to 20mph.
Most of those spoken to by the Guernsey Press said they could not understand why an Environment Department-led working group had come up with the idea.
Under the proposals, some main and coast roads would be 30 or 35mph but most roads would become 20mph.
At North Beach, receptionist Hannah Duquemin, 19 (pictured), said: ‘I don’t think anyone will stick to it at all.’
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Just think how many more signs we will need to have with all the different speed limits on our small roads not to mention keeping an eye out for the filters, Roundabouts, crossings, traffic lights, speed humps, etc that keep popping up. It will probably end up with us all having more accidents because we will not be looking at what we are supposed to be looking at, The Road. But don’t worry as statistics show if you are doing 20mph you’re less likely to kill someone you might maim then for life though.
Did the statistics also tell you that one of the other big causes of accidents is men looking at women when driving maybe the Environment Department would feel it a good idea to ban women from walking alongside roads as it would seem the intellect of the Environment Department does not stretch very far and is lacking in any Forsyth or common sense.
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I really think whoever thinks up these ideas are around the bend it is impossible to travel on most roads ar 2o mph these people need to get a life and think up some useful ideas not this trash.
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Guernsey should be a one car per household and then it would be safer for every one to get back on their bikes. Children would get exercise going to school and become fit. And less cheaper than buying fuel. That would solve the speed limits.
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@ Linda ~ your comment is a little silly. Guernsey should be a one car per household
“Guernsey should be one car per household” I take it you only have 1 car?!
I’m all for children walking to school I had to do it but in all fairness if you live too far for your child to walk and your partner happens to also have a car and you need to do the school run sometimes to different schools and hubby needs to get to work well then you have 2 cars! no point replying on the Guernsey Buses to thrash their way through the traffic!
so really your comment was abit silly
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The Island-wide speed limit should be lowered to 30mph and lowered to 20mph in small lanes and around schools. Simple two-tier system.
Car drivers in Guernsey are generally driving cars that are too large, too powerful and driving them too fast for the size of the roads. They are also extremely impatient and seem to believe that driving quickly for a short stretch of a couple of hundred metres will get them where they’re going quicker.
I have experienced this as a (small) car driver myself, a cyclist and a pedestrian and I know that even when I get behind the wheel of a large, modern car I feel like I can “safely” drive fast in Guernsey, especially on roads that I know like the back of my hand.
However, it really is reckless to drive fast in Guernsey. There is no real way to see ahead far enough to be able to drive any faster than 30mph, except perhaps on certain sections of the coast road, but that does not mean that we should all be driving everywhere at 40mph!!
People of Guernsey – you need to wake up. How many more people need to die or get severely injured on our roads before you realise that we all need to SLOW DOWN!
Get a bike, walk, drive a small car if you really have to but get rid of the 4x4s, the Porsches and the Aston Martins and make Guernsey’s pace of life slow again.
Rant over. :)
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LINDA- your idea is ridiculous, people would end up buying more fuel going round the island dropping each other off. Fuel consumption would increase due to heavier vehicles requiring higher revs to move and then people would be put in prison for paying to get lifts places.
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@Firestorm
“lacking in any Forsyth”???!!! – Good game, good game.
I think you mean foresight.
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There doesn’t seem much point in lowering the speed limits. I was in Guernsey last summer and many of the locals seem to igore the current ones!
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Most of the roads are lanes. Why not make the default “national” speed limit 20 unless marked otherwise? Then only signs on the roads that could be made 40,35,25 or even 15 would be required, plus time-of-day restrictions around schools.
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Michael Phillips, just like all the ‘locals’ in the UK ignore the UK speed limits, works both ways mate.
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Richard please show me the statistics of all these people that have been killed on the roads of Guernsey. Please Environment leave things as they are.
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Richard, I only agree with your last paragraph: This is something that boggles my mind too – why on earth do certain people insist on having fast sports cars on the island?! What a waste! Leave them in the UK, or better still, in France.
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Linda
By having less cars on the road, thereby giving the cars that are on the road more space…….. is going to reduce speeding??
Explain?
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Linda – 1 car per household?
Trying telling your children when they reach the age to drive that they cannot have a car! I don’t think that will happen. Plus I agree with your Dave, reducing the amount of cars on the road will increase the speed
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