Changes to 30 mph limit

Great news that the speeding in and around the village is under scrutiny - however, unless the speed limits are policed then the speeders will continue. I live on Heyes Lane and this is one of the roads used as a rat run (along with many others).

I have written to the council with my concerns before, but to no avail. They are reluctant to put in sleeping policemen or similar and when they recently set a policed speed trap up, they located it on the bad bend outside Granthams!

Also recently the council saw fit to place a non policed electronic devise which flashed up your speed if you were over the 30mph limit... so, what did the speeders do? They increased their speed to see what dizzy speeds they could hit down Heyes Lane, Oh yes and I have been declined planning permission for gates on my property (to protect my kids safety) as this is deemed to 'upset the through flow of traffic down Heyes Lane!!!!

Is there anyone who would like to discuss the crazyness of the councils decisions?

I suggest the local authority places a 30mph sign on the wooden frames that originally held the 40mph signs since this would remove any confusion regarding the change in speed limits for residents and visitors who may, like me, thought that the misssing 40mph signs was the result of vandalism.

It might have been simpler and much more effective just to put some sort of physical divider in the middle of the road outside the Merlin to stop vehicles turning right to go into and out of the place, illegaly crossing the red line.

No, not the wooden box things! The pavement is so narrow already that it's very hard to pass these bizarre structures with a pram. Great news about the changing limit though, if successful it will make walking that route less of a white-knuckle experience.

Fiona, that sign is placed by the Police, it records the speeds you travel at in order to build a statistical picture of how fast people are going or so I am told.

Should be followed up with ticketing if the data shows a problem in the area...

20 all the way through the center of the town would be good. Just link the pedestrian crossings to speed cameras, so that if anyone goes over 20, the next set of lights turn red for a cycle. This is an easy way to get everyone doing the speed limit, without dishing out points, wasting police time and putting in speed humps. Would also make more people use the bypass.

Craig, have you seen how many people drive through red lights in the village? Especially the crossing by the railway which cars speeding over the bridge frequently ignore or see too late. Physical changes like cobbles and raised crossings are more likely to make London Road safer for pedestrains. And while we are at it, let's restore the former pedestrian crossing between Stevens Street and Barclays Bank, where we really need it!

Yup, raised cobbled areas at the crossing would be great (apart from it being yet another bump to ruin your car), but would cost a lot more than what I have suggested.... and it works, and it doesnt give people points etc, and is more realistic to do when budgets are getting cut everywhere.

I have never seen anyone pass through a red light.... when someone has already stopped. Its a sort of rolling 20mph road block.

HI James- If what you have been told is true then we should have a permenant speed deterant in place on Heyes in a matter of months.....watch this space eh. My money is on absolutely nothing being done by the council yet again on this matter.
2 poor cats have been brutally killed on Heyes Lane in recent months by speeders - I fear for any pedestrians, should they be hit by these senseless speeders.

Could someone tell me where the 7.5t weight limit signs are coming from Wilmslow into Alderley?

Only seen one near to Chelford village hall! Is this why tippers are still using Chelford Road to go through to Holmes Chaple Road?

Karen, they are on the same pole as the new 30 signs.

They need to remove the old large 30 signs at horseshoe farm, amd have smaller repeater ones instead, I presume this has still to happpen?

30 is sensible from the bypass. 20 through the village is unnecessary in my view - Ryleys Lane perhaps by the schools. I am not bothered whether the signs are on wooden boxes or poles, but let's make them sensible. "Children Drive Slowly", they shoujldn't be driving at all!

Repeater signs are not necessary, there are more than enough different types of signs through the village to either distract motorists or for them to ignore - the signs at the Merlin have already been mentioned, but there the owners could help by making the entrance and exit more clearly defined and signed.

Talking of signs does anyone know when the fixing of new sign on the railway bridge is to be completed, or indeed the sign by the pelican crossing and park entrance heading north?

Agree with Graeme. Driving at 20mph requires constant monitoring of the speedometer which is downright dangerous when eyes ought to be watching events outside the vehicle.

The Parish Council long ago complained about the silly phrasing on the bird cages (which themselves obstruct eyelines, dangerously so by the Edge layby where they block pedestrians' view just where they need to cross the main road).

Thank you Ian. I appreciate your support.

Thanks Craig I have seen them now but this weight limit came in on the day the by-pass opened! How long ago!!! But going by how long the library has been up the village and the sign is still pointing down hayes lane, then I think they might of pulled their finger out with this one! lol

The Parish Council have been nagging away ceaselessly at Cheshire East Highways mob... hence the 30mph instead of the previous 40mph...there are also some more speed restriction signs to go up near all the schools...the signs that previously directed traffic to the airport via the village have gone, so that may cut through traffic...
Ian, strange that you mention cobbles; the centre of Prestbury has two (I think) bands of cobbles accross their main road through their village; I'd like to see something similar in our village but any such would have to be costed of course.

Cobbles are the sort of thing we were promised with the money the bypass contractors were supposed to donate but I understand this has now all gone.

It is counter-intuitive, but appears to be proven that if you take away all signs and remove the distinction between pavement and roadway, drivers become uncertain and drive more cautiously. Better anyway than having a 20mph limit which (a) makes people focus on the speedo instead of the road ahead and (b) encourages most drivers to drive *up to* the limit (plus the 10% allowance). I'd rather my children were missed by an attentive driver doing 30+ than hit by one focused on keeping precisely to 22 mph.

Hi Ian,
nothing ever goes... what goes round, comes round? The idea of cobbles appeals to me as an individual; both the look of them i.e. the village/rusticity thing and I imagine that a couple of swathes of cobbles accross the London Rd. would slow traffic? After all, the cobbles are already/still there, 'neath the tarmac layer.
If you guys out there agree or disagree, please make your thoughts known... sort of democracy at work?
There's not a lot of money in the pot for village highways but there is a little (damn money seems to evaporate/dribble away as time flies!).
As to your point about removing distinction...in Poynton (I am told) they've done that on Park Lane... its called 'shared space'... I haven't seen it myself but one person I know who lives in Poynton called it a ******* disaster... anyone out there seen it? if so,what do you think of it?

Lots of discussions on the Poynton shared space scheme here:

http://www.localwebring.co.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=233

Be careful what you wish for - it might come true. It would be very easy to kill the village by making it impossible for passing trade to pass ! Take a look at Wilmslow for a good example - 30 years ago Grove Street was a thriving shopping street - now its struggling. You may not like McDonalds but they exist in busy towns - Wilmslow cannot support a McDonald's.

Cheshire East have lost most of their Traffic Engineers in order to save money. Experts such as Rob Cramer have been made redundant. As an example of the insanity that this produces, James Howard, whose expertise is in Traffic Wardens and Parking Enforcement is now running all parking issues, he has no experience in traffic flows and the needs of residents to park near to their homes. His basic focus is revenue generation - not traffic management. He is learning slowly - but the council did have people with this expertise and let them go.

The options open to the Council are always limited. For instance, I have not checked but, I suspect that the Council are simply not permitted to put sleeping policemen on Heyes Lane. Further, even if it was permitted - I am willing to bet that a substantial proportion of the residents would object. Humps cause lots of noise for the adjacent houses.

I have pressed for years for the Pelican crossing signals near to the schools in the village to have speed sensors fitted. Its common in France. Approach the crossing too fast and it turns red. Sadly, these signals are not approved for use by the government and so we could not do it.

If you want to introduce a 20 mph limit - its needs to be a special zone with lots of other measures in place. Again, I wanted to introduce this along Ryley's Lane from the Junction with the old A34 and Chorley Hall :Lane but to introduce a whole zone was way beyond the spare budget. So all we are left with is the proposal for an advisory speed limit.

And so we come to enforcement. For the last 10 years the police have objected to almost every speed limit that has been proposed on the basis that in a world of falling budgets, they would not engage in additional enforcement. Speed limits are tricky. If you make the speed limit too low for the road - then research shows that it is generally ignored. It is possible to suggest that there should just be more enforcement - but remember - falling budgets and reducing enforcement by the police. The skill is to make the road 'appear' to the motorist to be a road where the actual limit is about right. One interesting bit of research shows that most people who speed, live in the locality. They think they know the road and do not need to be careful about the unknown.

Finally. The Speed Indicator Device - SID. Although some are available to the police, the majority of the ones you will see about are used by Cheshire East, often at the request of a local parish council. There is a huge waiting list and so any request may have been made ages ago. They have two general effects: firstly they do tend to make drivers look at their speed and slow down. Secondly they store the data so that the speed limit can be reviewed. Sadly the council officers have still not learned that the data is skewed. Most people actually do slow down when they see the device and so the device records much lower average speeds than are experienced when the device is absent.

One way that the Councils - Parish and Cheshire East - can really have an effect on speed is to introduce a volunteer Speed monitoring group. Bizarrely these are most active in the small and medium sized villages such as Lower Withington and Mobberley. The Parish Council funds the purchase of a speed gun. CE provides training and approval for the scheme. Volunteers then spend time operating specified sites in the village. Speeding motorists get a letter from the police advising them that they have been observed speeding. The presence of a fluoro jacket and a speed gun has a dramatic effect on the speed of passing motorists ! I am surprised that we do not have such a group in Alderley Edge.

Hope some of that is helpful info.

Marc - now an ex-CE councillor :-)))))

Marc, What a lot of common sense. Well said, sir. No wonder you are no longer in authority.
:-(