TEMPORARY speed bumps are to be placed on Old St John’s Road due to concerns that drivers are using it as a rat run to avoid a one-way trial on an adjacent road.
Up to four speed humps will be installed as soon as possible, following the approval of a proposal considered by the St Helier Roads Committee.
The committee’s report on the matter noted that a one-way trial scheme involving the nearby St John’s Road, which has been closed to northbound traffic, has created “significant problems” for residents living on Old St John’s Road – which is access only.
It explained that the latter road has been “abused regularly” since the trial commenced, as motorists “knowingly break the law” by accessing it as a “shortcut”.
This, the report added, was placing pedestrians – especially school children – at risk.
Old St John’s Road resident Monica De Andrade, who was present at yesterday’s meeting, told the committee: “There have been instances where I’ve nearly been crashed into leaving my home.”
She stressed that the issue related to both the volume of vehicles coming up the road as well as instances of speeding.
Silvio Alves, the parish’s head of infrastructure, pointed out that if Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology was available “a lot of this would be resolved”.
St Helier Constable and Roads Committee chair Simon Crowcroft also acknowledged that there were Islanders who would prefer to “rescind” Old St John’s Road’s access-only status.
But he said that: “For me, the deal-breaker is that it is a road used extensively by schoolchildren,” adding that it needed to be made more “peaceful”.
Speaking to the JEP after the speed hump proposal was approved, Ms De Andrade said: “It’s the safest thing to do in the meantime and it’s going to be a trial, so if it doesn’t work at least we can think of something else.”
The parish will seek residents’ views on whether the humps should be made permanent towards the end of the St John’s Road trial.
