A DEFAULT 30mph speed limit – with ‘exceptional’ 40mph areas – is being discussed by the Infrastructure Department, in response to growing confusion among drivers.
Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet said that, with speed limits ‘changing continually’, it was becoming more and more complex for Islanders to know what was legally permitted in a particular area.
Deputy Binet told a Scrutiny panel that his department was looking at ways of simplifying the situation.
‘Only this morning we had a discussion about the possibility … because we have so many 30mph zones; are we at a stage where we should have a 30mph speed limit with areas where you can do 40, so that you don’t have to have increasing numbers of 30 discs everywhere?’ the minister asked.
In response to growing concerns about road accidents, the Infrastructure Department has established a strategic road safety section to look at issues arising from speed limit policy, it was revealed at a hearing of the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel yesterday.
Responding to questions from the panel, Deputy Binet also called for better enforcement of existing speed limits. The minister acknowledged that recent additional pressure on the States police – including the extra challenges of the Haut du Mont explosion and the L’Ecume II fishing boat tragedy – meant that it was difficult to ‘go out with a speed gun and start fining people’, but he added: ‘I think we need to do more enforcement right the way across the parishes.’
Scrutiny panel chair Deputy Steve Luce expressed some scepticism over the practicalities of the 30mph approach that the minister set out.
‘Am I right in thinking that any area has a maximum speed limit which is exactly what it says on the tin, and that we couldn’t have a 30 [limit] across 98% of the Island while we still have areas of 40, because 40 would be the maximum speed limit? You’d therefore need to have all your 30 areas signposted at regular intervals, because it’s not the maximum speed limit for the Island,’ Deputy Luce said.
The minister was keen to emphasise that the idea of a 30mph limit across the Island was one which was only at the discussion stage, and officers acknowledged that the advice of the Law Officers’ Department would be required to ascertain the legal principles involved.
But Deputy Binet said that, while the issue of speed limits was complex, the safety of the public had to be put at the forefront of any approach.
‘Sadly, if that means people having to drive a little more slowly, so be it,’ he said.
