Oxfordshire County Council has approved seven more 20mph applications, including Abingdon. In total 72 schemes have been approved, and 53 installations have been completed, including Witney.
The detailed decision for Abingdon says ‘The Cabinet Member for Highway Management APPROVED the proposed introduction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits in Abingdon as advertised but with subsequent minor relaxations as outlined in paragraph 19, and providing that the text headed “Drayton Road” in the table at paragraph 19 be removed and replaced with “The 20mph limit is proposed to start immediately south of Mill Road”.
Paragraph 19 had been introduced as a compromise. Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council wanted a blanket 20 mph limit on all but the peripheral road. The bus companies, worried about journey times, objected. So the 20 mph zone will start on major roads as follows:
* Oxford Road: south of Norman Avenue
* Drayton Road: south of Mill Road
* Radley Road: east of Daisy Bank
* Wootton Road: north of Northcourt Road junction
* Bridge Street (pictured above): at the existing 30 mph limit.
The scheme is free to town and parish councils, with the county council funding the sign changes. Town and parish councils are expected to fund any traffic calming measures or speed-activated signs that may be required to support the new limits in their areas. I believe the town council has money for speed signs in the budget.
“head in hands emoji” ….
you will be lucky if u can get up to 20mph in abingdon, ridiculousdecision
At some times of the day yes, in the evening it is an entirely different story. Not that I think the idiots who tear around Abingdon will pay any attention to the speed limits any way.
Voted through without any objections. Who would have thought a Consultation” we already would be a sham run by Enright would tell us that. Look at Oxford, Witney and all the other towns this lot are ruining.
Yes….20hrs a day the traffic is brilliant, no issues at all…
Sledgehammer, nuts….and poor policy making…but hey, well done for jumping on another bandwagon 👍
This has nothing to do with savings the planet/cleaner air. The council doesn’t want to repair potholes, so are hoping if we go slower we will have more chance to avoid them or do less damage to our vehicles.
How will this be enforced on the housing estate roads where it best applies? Legislation without proper policing resources makes an ass of the law.
How many of those who made this decision have taken any further driving instruction since they passed the L-plate test? If they had, they might have had some credibility in telling others how to drive.
Road safety is first and foremost about what drivers and riders see and how we plan to deal with information. Sticking up 20mphj signs does nothing to address this root problem.
The wording of the detail is a bit confusing, especially where the word “start” is used – that depends which direction you are travelling in and a different interpretation seems to have been used for Drayton Road and Oxford Road! But I think the sense is that, coming INTO town it starts at Mill Road, Norman Avenue, Daisy Bank and Wootton Road/Northcourt Road junction. What about Marcham Road and Audlett Drive?
Having briefly read the report I note that the police response to the consultation was to have logged as ‘Having Concerns’ and the police view remains that 20mph limits and zones should be self enforcing (i.e engineered to slow traffic like Saxton Rd has or through community speed watch) and that Fixed safety Cameras within a 20mph limit can no longer function.
Also in their response the police did note that the County had removed itself from the National Guidance for Setting Speed Limits in 20s and the guidance was now being ignored!
Appalling decision, which helps nobody and puts another nail in the town centre coffin. queue for an hour to get to a car park that is over priced to go into at town centre which is nothing but barbers, coffee shops and estate agents.
Abingdon is a beautiful town, run by fools and has been for a while now.
🙁
I think the new 20mph in abingdon hasn’t been thought through enough it’s causing more traffic people are spending more money on fuel and going 20mph the driver is more relaxed to look around while driving which will cause more accidents, stupid idea…..
Mixed feelings for this – very good for residential/estate streets and areas with schools, still think Oxford Road should have been left at 30mph though.
I’ll be watching to see if drivers stick to 20 outside our place, doubting they will seeing as like Oxford 20mph difficult to enforce. There’s one BMW 1 Series driver who goes past us every day who seems to think he’s going for best lap time at the Nuremburg Ring.
All this is quite amusing. Several things spring to mind.
In Oxford although it was initially said that the limits would be self enforcing they have now been Policed using random traps, presumably as a revenue raising measure.
In many cases the bus companies are the worst offenders, if you use a GPS speedometer whilst sitting in a window seat you’ll see that they regularly exceed the limits. As such them bringing about a change in the proposal is the tail wagging the dog, they should just conform and comply like anyone else. Cheeky sods.
As said above Oxfordshire County Council have long used speed limits as an expenditure dodging measure, basically if you reduce the speed limit on a piece of road it no longer needs to be repaired to as high standard and the required level of grip is reduced also.
The modified 20 mph start points will possibly cost more to implement than the original proposal as a larger number of signs are required and as they are at new sites we’ll end up with yet more ugly street furniture spoiling the look of the place.
I can’t think of anything further at present.
As I’ve said before those motorbikes and cars causing excessive noise most notably at night but really anytime need to be policed and served as they are a noise nuisance. Rock and Roll might not be noise pollution but modified car and bike exhausts often are.
Sad to hear this. While it’s probably a good idea for purely residential roads, 20mph is ludicrous for any main roads most of the time.
Such bad wording too – South of Mill Road is towards Drayton, north of Northcourt Rd is going out of town.
To put the alternative view, why do people find it necessary to travel faster than 20 mph through residential areas?
Hit at 30 mph you probably die
Hit at 20 mph you probably live
Personally I dont need enforcement and (mainly) follow the speed limit set. I’m sure there are people who habitually ignore speed limits but that doesn’t make speed limits worthless
I think what is so frustrating is that this whole “problem” requires thrusting, informed, calculated, modern, innovative approach to trying to find useful, value, workable solutions.
Alas..as ever, we get simplistic, not quite fit for purpose, poorly implemented ideas that are…a decade(?) out of date.
It is entirely symptomatic of the state of the nation.
And…who suffers?
As I and others have pointed out here or elsewhere already … These 20mph limits are, ultimately down to/about money. That’s it. And we are mugs if we think otherwise….but thats what they hope for. We are too stupid to know any different or do anything about it.
Good luck everyone.
Disappointed by so many negative responses to this speed limit which should improve the town centre for everyone. I asume none of these come from non-drivers. Pedestrians, cyclists, the disabled, the very old & the very young aren’t given a mention. Sadly the way some people drive these days is quite threatening to pedestrians. The town centre should be mainly designed for people not vehicles trying to get through it as fast as possible.
At 1am I rarely, if ever, have seen a child, cyclists, a pedestrian or the disabled out and about ….and so, as such a 20mph limit at 1am seems, frankly l, rediculous and if anything, undermines the reason for having it in the first place.
There are better solutions. Why are we “pleased” that 20yr old, inadequate solutions are being put in place?