This petition has been reviewed and the following response has been offered:
Your
petition has been considered by the Highways team, in line with our petition
process and Council Policies.
It
may help if I explain the County Councils Policy with regards to speed limits
in general. Guidance is taken from our Speed Management Strategy, a policy
document for Norfolk which is based on national standards from the Department
for Transport (DfT).
A
key aspect of the strategy requires that speed limits should be evidence led,
self-explaining and seek to reinforce road user’s assessment of what is a safe
speed to travel. It makes reference to prime visual clues and measurements that
should be considered when setting speed limits. These include the road type,
characteristics and geometry, the level of frontage development, pedestrian
volumes and factors that generate pedestrian traffic. The basis of the Norfolk
Speed Management Strategy is to both set appropriate speed limits and achieve a
reasonable level of driver compliance with those limits. Where a speed limit is
set too low and is ‘out of kilter’ with a drivers’ perceptions’ of a reasonable
and safe speed, compliance is likely to be poor. If unrealistic low speed
limits are widespread, this leads to a lack of respect and poor compliance with
speed limits in general. The speed limits set by Norfolk County Council have
been reviewed to ensure a consistency of approach across the county, and nationally.
Low
Common Road as you will appreciate is of a rural setting with road status
unclassified in terms road hierarchy. It is typical of many rural roads in a
farming county like Norfolk. There is limited frontage development and that
which exists is quite spread out. There are few pedestrian generators, so
footfall is low compared to more developed areas. Pedestrians are however able
to utilise the highway verge as refuge throughout the locality.
In
your report submitted alongside the petition. You describe the suggestion of
lowering speed limits to 40mph, possibly zonal. Considering our Speed
Management Strategy, a 40mph speed limit should meet the following criteria:
•
settlement has shop(s), school(s), Public House, filling station etc;
•
significant development on both sides of road, but not necessarily continuous,
with some development in depth, overall frontage exceeds 400m in length;
•
junctions;
•
some pedestrian/cycle activity throughout the day with possible peaks
associated with schools etc;
•
some provision for pedestrians/cyclists or acknowledged need and possible
warning signs.
It
is for the above reasons and its undeveloped rural nature that Low Common Road
remains de-restricted. The national speed limit applies to the vast
majority of rural unclassified roads. This is not a target speed. Drivers
should always drive appropriately to the road layout ahead and prevailing road
conditions.
Our
assessment is that Low Common Road does not meet the above criteria.
Nevertheless, I have reviewed the accident records to see if there is an
overriding casualty history which would justify speed limit changes. I’m
glad to say that there have been no personal injury accidents recorded by
Norfolk Constabulary on Low Common Road.
In
view of the above we are unable to recommend a reduction in the speed limit on
Low Common Road. I appreciate this may be of disappointment to you, but I trust
the above explains the rationale behind our decision.