The new 20mph zones, how are you finding them?

[TWOCHOICEStom]

Saw this mentioned briefly on another thread and thought I'd see what people think on this matter..

To me, I think they're a good idea IN THE RIGHT PLACES.

As another poster has said, trying to do 20mph from Portslade Old Village down to the seafront, I struggle to get into 3rd gear. It feels completely unnecessary for 90% of that route.

The 20mph limit suggests that there are some areas where you need to take extra care - more so than in a 30 area, which is fine. It's the classification of these areas that I struggle to understand.

There are numerous examples where the road you turn into is equally as dangerous or even more so, and the speed limit goes UP! The worst example of all has to be Vale Road in Portslade, turning left off Trafalgar Road (20mph) you're greeted by St. Mary's School, an entrance to a park, speed humps and an INCREASE in the speed limit...

I'm totally for these 20 zones if they save lives, but they've got to be more consistent IMO.

What do you reckon?



p.s... has anyone seen my iPad?

 

[honey boy zimba]

slower !

 

[Everest]

The new 20mph zones, how am I finding them?

I just drive into Portslade old village and bingo, there they are.

P.S. I haven't

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

I find them with my eyes

(I'd have replied this if someone else had have started the thread.)

 

[Poyetry In Motion]

The new 20mph zone outside Blatch Mill school, near the greyhound stadium is absolutely correct. Very few are obeying the limit though

 

[Easy 10]

Bloody STOOPID. 30mph was always perfectly safe down Trafalgar Road, but I'm looking at the speedo more than the road now.

And I tell you what else winds me up. They've decided, in their wisdom, to put a couple of random white BOLLARDS next to the mini-roundabout at Shelldale Road on the left as you travel south. This is at a section where you are (naturally) looking to your RIGHT for traffic, you actually end up having to swerve slightly to make sure you avoid them. It must be even worse if you're driving a bus or a HGV. You can see they've already been hit as there's scuff marks on them.

Who are the TOOLS who decide on this crap ? Is it the council or the Highways Agency ?

 

[GingerBeerMan]

The new 20mph zone outside Blatch Mill school, near the greyhound stadium is absolutely correct. Very few are obeying the limit though

I sometimes go down there at 20 for a laugh. Get tail gaited like a bitch though and feel like i'm pissing off the guy behind me. 30 is fine, but seeing as most people do +10MPH on the limit, 20 is ok to make people go 30.

I do find it odd, however, how the limit rises back up to 30 on Eridge Road which is a small road thats runs along a small primary school. Madness.

 

[Garage_Doors]

I ignore them.

 

[Poyetry In Motion]

I sometimes go down there at 20 for a laugh. Get tail gaited like a bitch though and feel like i'm pissing off the guy behind me. 30 is fine, but seeing as most people do +10MPH on the limit, 20 is ok to make people go 30.

I do find it odd, however, how the limit rises back up to 30 on Eridge Road which is a small road thats runs along a small primary school. Madness.

I know what you mean. I was actually breaking the limit by doing 25mph yesterday and still had a bloody great delivery truck up my rear end!

 

[Jim Van Winkle]

I was down in Portslade to see the folks just the other week and noticed all these new 20 mph signs. Like the OP has mentioned there seems to be no consistency where the new 20 mph zones are placed. As where my parents live you get cars parked on both sides of the road which makes it very narrow to drive down and you can still do 30mph. To me this is more dangerous than some of the areas that are now 20 mph. Would like to see the research by the council that concluded where all these 20 mph zones were meant to be. Granted you have a lot schools in the area. The 20 mph zones just seems to have been very randomly placed as if to catch you out for when the inevitable speed cameras are put into action.

 

[Storer 68]

I was always taight that a good rule of thumb was that if there were streetlights around, then the limit was probably 30

 

[ees complicated no?]

where they say 20, I still go 30 & where they say 30 I still go 40 ..... but I do go the slower speed when round schools or parks however.

 

[Guinness Boy]

The one on Trafalgar Road is idiotic. Me or my wife regularly do the school run down there and it's far LESS safe now. No-one does 20. The buses haven't even adjusted their timetable so clearly they're not expecting to either. When my Mrs has done 20 she has been tailgated, beeped, v-signed and terrifyingly overtaken. As Easy10 says the HGVs and buses on the Shelldale roundabout now sway perilously.

I would - particularly during the school run - like to see everyone obeying the 20mph limit. We are after all talking about kid's lives here. But unless it is going to be strictly enforced with average speed cameras Trafalgar Road is now MUCH more unsafe with the 20 limit.

 

[The Large One]

My road is 30, and is fine at 30.

But they could do with something that encourages people to go no quicker than 30. 60 is not uncommon, sadly.

 

[BHAFC_Pandapops]

It's mostly bollocks. I understand near schools, but everywhere else. Piss off. It's like crawling with the clutch.

 

[toostonedtocare]

The new 20mph zone outside Blatch Mill school, near the greyhound stadium is absolutely correct. Very few are obeying the limit though

Except it goes back up to 30 in Court Farm Road immediately outside the school entrance. I thought someone must have made a mistake but then I read about St Marys in Portslade. It is actually insanity.

 

[Triggaaar]

I have no respect for speed limits.

 

[Woodchip]

I have never managed to get to 20. Them's the troubles of walking.

 

[ropey9]

Bloody STOOPID. 30mph was always perfectly safe down Trafalgar Road, but I'm looking at the speedo more than the road now.

And I tell you what else winds me up. They've decided, in their wisdom, to put a couple of random white BOLLARDS next to the mini-roundabout at Shelldale Road on the left as you travel south. This is at a section where you are (naturally) looking to your RIGHT for traffic, you actually end up having to swerve slightly to make sure you avoid them. It must be even worse if you're driving a bus or a HGV. You can see they've already been hit as there's scuff marks on them.

Who are the TOOLS who decide on this crap ? Is it the council or the Highways Agency ?

The one on Trafalgar Road is idiotic. Me or my wife regularly do the school run down there and it's far LESS safe now. No-one does 20. The buses haven't even adjusted their timetable so clearly they're not expecting to either. When my Mrs has done 20 she has been tailgated, beeped, v-signed and terrifyingly overtaken. As Easy10 says the HGVs and buses on the Shelldale roundabout now sway perilously.

I would - particularly during the school run - like to see everyone obeying the 20mph limit. We are after all talking about kid's lives here. But unless it is going to be strictly enforced with average speed cameras Trafalgar Road is now MUCH more unsafe with the 20 limit.

There is a lot of pedestrian traffic on Trafalgar road at all times, in particular in the morning there are lots of children walking to school. I walk 4 of mine and it has always a bit dicey walking down Trafalgar Road. The road layout changes - narrowing the road at the Victoria Road roundabout and the changes at the Shelldale roundabout make things much safer as it forces cars to have to slow down much more then they previously had to.

The speed limit change has proved ineffective and pointless, everyone ignores it and still drives down Trafalgar Road at 40mph, apart from when I do 20mph much to the annoyance of anyone behind me.

HGVs and buses on the Shelldale roundabout now sway perilously

If this is the case then they are obviously not driving at 20mph, the 2 white bollards are intended to force a more obvious stopping point rather then the previous hell for leather skip over the roundabout that used to be the case.

 

[happypig]

Firstly, if you have trouble keeping your car/motorcycle/van/tractor to 20 mph then there's either a problem with the car or, more likely, you're not very good at driving it.
Secondly, it's a limit, not a target.