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Sidmouth Traffic Management Plan: extending the 20mph zone

  • by JW

“This will then include ALL of the Town along with All Saints Road, Station Road and the Esplanade within the zone.” [Cllr Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council highways]

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BATTLES OVER ROADS: THE NATIONAL PICTURE:

The anti-bike lobby sometimes seems to be rather vociferous – with anti-environmentalist narratives fuelling the anger toward UK cyclists, as seen on social media and in the some of the mainstream press.

Unfortunately, cycling has become part of this increasingly angry culture wars – but as one commentator and cyclist points out, “Riding a bike is not a political act. We’re not ‘wokerati’ – we’re just trying to get around.” 

Or, trying very much not to be ‘political’, “anti-cycling stories are bad for the UK’s health”, says Chris Boardman:

The UK’s public health is being directly harmed by anti-cycling coverage in parts of the media, Chris Boardman, who heads the government’s main active travel organisation. Boardman, a former champion cyclist and businessman, leads Active Travel England (ATE) and is at the forefront of government efforts to help people switch from car trips to healthier and more sustainable travel.

Set up in 2020 by Boris Johnson to help councils to create well-designed schemes, ATE endured a difficult time as the government battled against bus lanes and 20mph limits as well as low-traffic neighbourhoods. While this culture war has abated since the election, Boardman says that pushing for better walking and cycling routes remained “very politically noisy”, which could particularly put off local politicians.

In parallel then, some people are getting ‘angry’ over extending 20mph zones – with some anger over enforcement of the 20mph zone in a Cornwall village back in October and the new Plymouth 20mph zone given the go-ahead despite a ‘mixed response’ last week.

But actually, those of us who drive cars (which includes most of us, including walkers and cyclists) directly benefit from the UK’s 20mph speed limits, as they ‘are cutting car insurance costs’:

The first indications that 20mph zones could bring down the cost of car insurance – as well as cutting speeds and reducing road casualties – came in June last year, when the car insurer esure reported that vehicle damage claims in Wales fell by a fifth after the default limit was introduced. The company said at the time that the speed restriction was “clearly having an impact”,” and it later said that the average driver could be looking at a £50-a-year saving on their motor insurance if the zones were rolled out across UK towns and cities.

BRINGING IN SAFER ROADS: THE SID VALLEY:

If we look at what’s been happening locally, some of the campaigning against the proposed Sidford Business Park was focussed on both the speed and volume of traffic – with a push to slow down in Sidmouth and a ‘clash of perception’ between residents and officials over these issues, which came out of an FOI inquiry revealing that 88 per cent of drivers didn’t stick to the 20mph limit at Sidbury.

It does appear, then, that whilst there are innumerable ‘death-traps’ on our roads [where “30,000 people are killed or seriously injured every year, and less than three of those are involving cyclists”], it seems there will be more regulations for cyclists [or as someone wryly suggests: “Please tax and insure pedestrians and make them wear number plates. I was almost knocked off my bike by three of them crossing the road without looking.”]

Fortunately, the County Council is not only keen on boosting cycling and walking – and has been asking us to have your say on cycling and walking routes for the Sid Valley.

It is also bringing in more 20mph zones in the Sid Valley – following on from concerns on Alexandria Road [where drivers ‘ignore the 20mph limit’] and Salcombe Road [where residents have campaigned for a lower speed limit].

The county already has its Devon 20mph Schemes – and several are about to be introduced for Sidmouth. As revealed on social media by the highways chief Cllr Stuart Hughes: Delighted that I can now confirm that having met with our traffic engineers to discuss the Sidmouth Town 20 mph speed limit which was included in phase 2…. Here’s the full statement from Sidmouth’s county councillor:

Delighted that I can now confirm that having met with our traffic engineers to discuss the Sidmouth Town 20 mph speed limit which was included in phase 2 of the Traffic Management Plan that I have managed to get their agreement to include Salcombe Hill Road with the 20 limit signs located east of the Alma Lane junction…… This will therefore ensure that Alma Lane, Hillside Road, Beatlands Road, Cliff Road area will also be included within the zone area.

The 20 zone signs will be located to the north of the Salcombe Hill Road junction on Sid Road and to the north of Salcombe Road junction on Radway A375…….This will then include ALL of the Town along with All Saints Road, Station Road and the Esplanade within the zone with the signs located to the west of the Glen Road junction.

I’ve also secured the inclusion of Broadway and St John’s School along with Knowle Drive and these will also be included within the scheme. There’s more to the west of Sidmouth but it’s a considerable area and officers will have to work up the scheme …. This will be starting in the 25/26 financial year which begins in April and will go out for consultation prior to any further fine tuning and implementation.

Being social media, it’s interesting to see that the ‘like’ emojis vastly outnumber the ‘angry’ emojis…

With thanks to the Sidmouth Cycling Campaign for posting Cllr Hughes announcement on the SCC social media pages!