Date received: 08 October 2020
Signatories received: 62
Name of petitioner: Cllr David Brookes
Petition response:
I refer to the petition, signed by local residents regarding speeding on New Road, Uttoxeter.
The Council completely sympathises with local residents affected by the inconsiderate behaviour of speeding motorists.
Staffordshire County Council takes road safety extremely seriously and all road safety considerations across the county are supported through the collation of objectively measured data which is challenged and rationalised. This approach has led Staffordshire to have one of the safest county council road networks in the country.
Effective speed management is part of creating a safe road environment which is fit for purpose. It involves many components designed to work together to require, encourage and help road users to adopt appropriate and safe speeds below the speed limit. As well as being the legal limit, speed limits are a key source of information to road users, particularly as an indicator of the nature and risks posed by that road both to themselves and to all other road users. Speed limits should therefore be evidence-led and self-explaining and seek to reinforce people's assessment of what is a safe speed to travel at which encourages self-compliance. Speed limits should be seen by drivers as the maximum speed, rather than as a target speed at which to drive irrespective of conditions. It is often not appropriate or safe to drive at the maximum speed limit.
We measure this by taking both the Mean speed and 85th percentile speed (the speed at or below which 85% of vehicles are travelling) are the most commonly used measures of actual traffic speed. Traffic authorities should continue to routinely collect and assess both, but mean speeds should be used as the basis for determining local speed limits.
For the majority of roads there is a consistent relationship between mean speed and 85th percentile speed. Where this is not the case, it will usually indicate that drivers have difficulty in deciding the appropriate speed for the road, suggesting that a better match between road design and speed limit is required. It may be necessary to consider additional measures to reduce the larger than normal difference between mean and 85th percentile speeds or to bring the speed distribution more in line with typical distributions. The aim for local speed limits should be to align the speed limit to the conditions of the road and road environment.
Traffic speeds on New Road, Uttoxeter, were studied during the County Council’s A and B road speed limit review. There were no trends concerning factors of speed in the accident data studied and there was no objective data to support traffic calming such as speed cushions or other build outs, in this location. The location was also subject to road safety audits following the improvements on the A50 which saw the removal of the slip road off the A50 and the removal of the traffic island on New Road.
As part of the pre planning for the development of the A50 Uttoxeter Project A scheme, an A522 Uttoxeter Road Design and Access Statement was produced This considered pedestrian and cyclist movements on New Road and as such the following were included into the scheme
- uncontrolled crossing point on the new realigned New Road near to Tunnicliffe Way. This also acts as traffic calming as it prevents overtaking.
- A new 3 m wide shared footway/cycleway was also included along New Road on the north side.
- During the pre-construction public consultation events, Staffordshire County Council representatives discussed with consultation attendees, post scheme monitoring of New Road. This has taken place in the form of continued speed enforcement at New Road by the Staffordshire Safer Roads Partnership mobile enforcement vehicle, throughout 2020 and into 2021.
Furthermore Road Safety Audits Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3 were completed during the design and delivery of the scheme with recommendations included by the designers where appropriate.
On New Road we have been working closely with local elected representatives and Uttoxeter Town Council to provide a number of measures to advise motorists they are entering a 30mph area. At the change of speed from 40mph to 30mph near the Shell Garage gateway features are being installed, including increasing the size of signage and providing yellow backing, along with road markings to advise drivers of the speed limit changes. Also, as you travel along New Road a speed indication device (SID) will be installed at an appropriate location. This SID will warn drivers of their speed and such signage have been shown to calm driver speeds where located.
Such signs are used on a rotational basis with other locations to provide a break from the sign at the same location so that drivers do not become complacent by its presence. We also provide regular visits of the mobile safety van throughout the year. Finally you have mentioned community speed watch being set up, this initiative is managed through the Police and is shown to provide good compliance in locations where residents feel speed is a concern.
Staffordshire Road Safety Partnership (SSRP) aspires to help make speeding socially unacceptable through its co-ordinated programme of education (including publicity), training, enforcement and engineering solutions.
Details of how the county council contributes to this programme through strategic investment choices in road safety engineering measures is available on the council’s website here: Road safety issues - Staffordshire County Council