Bucks County Council is proposing to lower the speed limits on a lot of roads.
The county is divided into areas for this, and Taplow falls in Area 9.
Some of the proposals are unlikely to worry anyone (e.g. making Buffins and Mill Lane
30MPH areas, which most people would probably say they are already!)
Other proposals might not be to everyones liking, for various reasons.
You can find
the Area 9 proposals on Bucks CC's website. Go to the very bottom of that page and get the
Area 9 and the
Supporting Information documents.
Note that this consultation does not say anything about 20MPH areas as they are more complex to create.
The consultation period closed on 7th Jan 2008.
So far (21st April 2008) there is no sign of a response from BCC.
Update 25th August 2008: Earlier this month BCC sent out wads of paper to people who had made comments. Most of the proposals are unchanged, but there are
a few differences, particularly around Burnham Beeches and on Cliveden Road.
Mill Lane - this seems to be 30MPH already. Do we really want more signs to say so? Personally I would rather have Mill Lane closed to motor vehicles at the Jubilee River bridge. That would remove most traffic from Mill Lane itself, and would probably reduce the attraction of Taplow as a rat-run in peak periods.
Cliveden Road - Proposed 50 limit, though the detailed comments suggest they might change to 40. This is certainly a dangerous road in some places, but I would object very strongly to a 40 limit: it would frustrate law-abiding drivers and have no effect on the bad ones. Apparently the advice from the Road Research lab is that a 50 limit might actually increase accidents, so why change the limit at all?
I would rather see improvements at the blind bends (chevrons, double white lines etc). I would also like to have a north-south bridlepath or cycleway so that people can avoid walking or riding on this road.
Hitcham Lane - the proposal is to extend the 30 limit from Burnham right out to the Taplow side of the Hitcham Road junction. I doubt very much that this will work, as the road does not
look like a 30 zone.
Marsh Lane - a lower limit is certainly a good idea, though I think 40 would be a more natural choice given the appearance of the road.
In general I feel that lowering speed limits is not a panacea. The proliferation of new limits in rural areas creates stress and frustration for those of us who try to abide by the rules, while having little effect on those who drive too fast as a matter of course. There was a time when an experienced driver could tell the most likely speed limit from the appearance of a road, and I mourn its passing.
15 Dec 2007 22:08:05 EvaLipman:
