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The present proposals are unlikely to make the roads any more or less safe, I suspect.
- Reducing the limit to 30mph on roads without a centreline will cause distortions in the flow of traffic as drivers slow down for a few hundred yards and then speed upandso on and will require constant monitoring of the speedometer. Liable to causemore accidents, not less.
- Surely it is more important to keep one's eyes on the road than the speedometer – which is onlycommon sense.
- Most drivers adjust their speed to the prevailing road conditions, not the presence of a white line or lack of it..
- Jersey has some 500 miles of roads, making it impossible to police more than the odd stretch.
- The public's perception of the police, not very good at the best of times, will deteriorate further if drivers are to be prosecuted for exceeding an arbitrary speed limit, when there is no danger involved.
- 15 mph is at least 10 mph slower than the last winner of the Olympic 100 metres. It is pathetically slow. For this reason most of these lanes are devoid of traffic and walkers are mostly conspicuous by their absence.
- Bicycles, horses, dogs, evenskate boarders are not covered by this limit.
On the subject of green lanes, I recall one former president of the appropriate committee stating that the introduction of 15 mph lanes was unlikely to cause inconvenience to drivers as there was "very little traffic on them". He seemed unaware that the entrances to three of the island's golf clubs were on green lanes – and he was a golfer!
I am sure that the majority of islanders will not look kindly on the committee's proposals to amend limits – other than to raise 15 mph to 20.
Neil Dangerfield