Parish calls for 20mph speed limit in St Helier

Thursday 27 April 2017

St. Helier's Roads Committee has unanimously voted in favour of a 20mph speed limit on all roads within the ring road.

The change will now be submitted to the Minister for Infrastructure who has the final say.

Speaking of the decision, Simon Crowcroft, St. Helier constable, told Express: "We carried out a consultation with local residents and although we didn't get a lot of feedback, despite an extended period of time, of the 60 responses that we received, a vast majority was in favour of the lower speed limit. This is not a new idea for St. Helier and it has always been part of the strategy." 

Although it is up to the Minister for Infrastructure to decide if the speed limit should be lowered, Mr Crowcroft hopes the answer will be positive. "Why should St. Aubin's village, St. Peter or St Mary benefit from lower speed limits when they are far more people living in the streets of St. Helier trying to walk, cycle and bring up their families. Why should they be denied the right to be safer?"

But St. Mary's Constable, Juliette Gallichan thinks that lowering the speed limit is not enough. "It has no effect at all if it's not being enforced, and you can't enforce it 24/7. It has to be a combination of lower speed limit and of design layout of the roadways. In St. Mary's, it has worked because the roads were narrowed in areas of speeding. In large areas however, it tends to be more self-policing as the traffic flow itself prevents the speeding."

"In isolation a lower speed limit won't have an impact on the behaviour. Speed cameras would be one way to do it but I believe that once we introduce penalty points for speeding behaviour will change. Speeding fines are a nuisance but the threat to lose your license will have more impact."

So far, the response on social media hasn't been very positive with many comments suggesting that traffic congestion itself regulates the speed. Mr Crowcroft said if people wanted a public meeting, he was open to the idea: "We don't need to do it as the Roads Committee has the authority to make that kind of decision and were elected to do a job. If people want to have a Parish Assembly, we will."