Blow to 20 mph plans for Ruscombe and Randwick

Excuse this rather hurried Blog but wanted to get this news out before 12 five and six year old children descend on my house for a birthday party - scary or what!

Anyhow to this news - please do feel free to add comments at the bottom on this site:

Many of us have been requesting a 20 mph limit through much of Ruscombe, Randwick and beyond . We thought we were there with at least part of our request being accepted (see proposals on map): these plans were drawn up and the community consulted. No objections - just support since the consultations opened in the summer - that is until at the last minute the police apparently have said now they can't support the scheme without traffic calming measures. I find it strange that they were not involved more at the start - or if they were why only now the objections?

Humps and bumps are not possible on the hills and in any case I don't think they are the best way to reduce speed. I have asked to be involved with how we can get around this problem - basically regulations generally mean that if cars can go 30 mph then we are not allowed the 20 mph - but clearly there are ways we could get around this - road narrowing in places could for example reduce speeds - certainly there are not many areas that cars can get up to 30 mph.....

...but then one starts to wonder - if cars can't go faster why bother with all that expense - better to focus with limited resources say on getting The Plain right - it is unacceptable that people living in Whiteshill feel unable to let children go to the play ground because the main road is too dangerous to cross without an adult - to me we need a complete shift in how we look at traffic - like much of Europe all residential areas should be 20 mph - if they need to be faster then a case should be made by those wanting it - communities should not have to fight to get 20 mph zones.

It is also worth noting that 20 mph is by no means an answer - and the police are partly right - as Greens have been saying for a very long time we need roads to be designed for all users not just to speed cars through from A to B - it is no wonder we have the highest death rate for children in Europe on our roads and some of the fewest pedestrians and cyclists. Enforcement is another issue - but clearly getting a 20 mph zone would in my view start to change how people view the road and our community. I wont repeat all the discussions here - see elsewhere on this Blog....

More about the proposals and support for 20 mph coming from an A&E Consultant at Gloucester by clicking here. My most recent letter to press re general call for 20 mph here and discussions about the need for more measures beyond that being proposed here. In many ways parts of the The Plain and the main road through Randwick to Edge are in need of more attention than the area for the proposed 20 mph - it is good news that both Whiteshill and Randwick look set to get the flashing speed sign as a start to getting these problems tackled.