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| Vigilantes Have Taken Steps Because the 20mph Fantasy Has Failed |
Over the last few years, Southampton motorists, cyclists, lorry drivers and pedestrians have been subjected to disruption and confusion by Southampton City Council.
Labour, Green Party and Conservative councillors have pushed for 20mph "limits" to be put in place. But it is difficult to find residents who wanted them.
Instead of improving road safety, the evidence of residents who live near them suggests that the 20mph signs have created confusion and actually increased danger through frustration.
The 20mph signs have been vandalised by vigilantes. The signs can't be called limits as according to residents and motorists, the vast majority of drivers seem to ignore them and there are little or no reports of any enforcement by the Police. The vandalism by the vigilantes shows how unpopular the signs are, and how out-of-touch these councillors are.
Andrew Pope stood as an Independent candidate in the recent Shirley by-election, and asked residents what issues were important to them.
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| Andrew Pope on BBC South Today |
Andrew says:
"Enough is enough! There is almost universal disapproval of the safety failures on Hill Lane. The top of Hill Lane, with its two roundabouts and two zebra crossings, is already dangerous. It must be revised and measures put in place that actually work. That's where money should be spent, not on daft schemes that don't work and cause disruption and danger.
The 20mph signs on Hill Lane are actually creating frustration and danger, and this location is one of the last places this should happen.
What is incredible is how Southampton City Council and its Shirley Labour councillors thought this would be a good idea in the first place. Now there is one less Labour councillor, after the by-election. It's easy to see why they lost.
It should be obvious that it would not work. Residents have said it would not work. The original trials of 20mph signs in Maybush Triangle, where I was councillor, did not work. The signs remained up though. It was deemed "expensive" to take them down.
But the Council ignored that data and what sensible residents thought and councillors such as Councillor Eamonn Keogh, who is Labour Cabinet Member for Transport and Deputy Tory Leader Councillor Jeremy Moulton have carried on putting the 20mph signs up. I have challenged Cllr Moulton over this, and he came back with some figures from Edinburgh, of all places.
The Council claims to have "consulted" residents. But during the Shirley by-election, finding residents who said that they had been consulted proved impossible.
In hundreds of doorstep conversations, and requests in letters to residents about the issues that mattered to them, ZERO residents said that they had been consulted about the Hill Lane 20mph signs or the Shirley Road 20mph signs. It's a fantasyland by Labour and Tory councillors who seem to have been influenced by a tiny minority of "Green" lobbyists.
I have listened very carefully to residents, and come to the conclusion that these 20mph signs on Hill Lane and Shirley Road must be removed immediately before someone is injured or killed.
The Labour-run Council claimed that it was going to do so back in May, just before the Council elections, but five months later, it has failed to do it. Their abuse of election purdah should not have been allowed by Council officers. But they got away with it. And despite saying it would be done quickly, they still haven't done what they said. Labour lost hundreds of votes in Shirley in just five months and decisions like this played a part in that.
I am calling for these 20mph signs on Hill Lane and Shirley Road to be removed NOW, and for proper road safety measures to be put in place that work, where they are thought-through and proven. That's what residents and motorists want.
I know from my work as an interviewer on the Department of Transport's National Travel Survey that the vast majority of journeys are made by car or foot (89%), whether Labour, Tory or Green fanatic councillors like it or not. Cycling and bus journeys are a tiny proportion of journeys. Even when trains are included, it's still only 10% of trips.
In a democracy, the majority should win out, not a tiny minority of cycling lobbyists. It is well-known, including by officers of the Council, that Cllr Eamonn Keogh is a cycling fanatic. Being a councillor and Cabinet Member, he is supposed to put personal views aside in the interests of our City. But Keogh seems to think it's his role to put his own, minority, views first. He's wrong.
Cyclists, motorists and pedestrians should be protected by road safety schemes that actually work, not a fantasyland of putting up some signs and hoping, which seems to be the Council's current policy."
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