I recently mentioned the idiotic 20mph speed limits which Nottingham City Council – and championed by Jane Urquhart – has erected within the City boundaries. I pointed out specifically that the signage is now extremely confusing – and in many cases, totally wrong and probably illegal. Well, take a look at these two examples.
This first one is on Hungerhill Road, at the junction with Abbotsford Drive. Note how there is a 20mph repeater sign, a 30mph main sign, then another 20mph repeater further down the road. The 30mph sign is the original signage and the 20mph zone has been extended farther down the road. It’s also worth pointing out that at the end of Abbotsford Drive (where the parked car is), there is another 30mph sign – and yet there are 20mph repeaters both left and right as you emerge.
The second one is on Beacon Hill Rise in St Anns. You can see how the previous 20mph zone ended just here – and yet there is another 20mph repeater just after the mini-roundabout (again, they have extended the 20mph zone).
These are just two out of many I have seen. At best, speed limit signs are now frequently the wrong size – you’re supposed to have a large one at the start (or end) of a zone, and the small repeaters in between. However, now the large ones exist within 20mph zones, and that makes them confusing.
At worst, the halfwits at the council have simply left all the old signs up, even when they have contradictory speed limits marked on them.
None of this is legal, and enforcing it if anyone is caught speeding is going to be a huge waste of money because they’ll more than likely be able to wriggle out of it in court.
These signs have been like this for at least two months, now. It proves beyond doubt that the council wouldn’t understand road safety if it bit them on the ass. However, I’m sure that quite a few people who work there will have received glowing annual appraisals just based on the number of times they said “road safety” in their team meetings. It simply goes to show what happens when you promote mediocre people to positions of responsibility.
I’ve always been a Labour voter (I wouldn’t vote for anyone else). But I’m seriously thinking about not voting at all this time around. That’s because a vote for Labour is effectively a vote for Jane Urquhart, and she is simply not up to the job.
Do Nottingham police enforce 20mph limits?
It is my understanding that they don’t – not yet, at any rate. I’m sure I read some time last year that they had refused to do so because they didn’t have the manpower.
However, you must remember that if you break the 20mph speed limit then you ARE committing an offence and if they did decide to enforce these limits at any point in time you wouldn’t have any defence (as long as the signage was legal, of course).
They could start enforcing these limits at any time – for all we know they could have started now.
Is the 20mph signage legal?
The short answer is that in many areas it is absolutely NOT legal. As I outlined above, many areas still have 30mph signs plonked right in the middle of 20mph zones. In other areas the signs are the wrong size, and this gives the clear impression that you are moving from a higher speed limit zone to a 20mph one, when in fact the idiots have dropped the limit in the former zone already – quite possibly using further illegal or misleading signage.
Would I have an avenue of appeal if I were ticketed?
I would say that you would – certainly if the signage was incorrect in the ways I have already outlined. Furthermore, the constant changing from 20mph to 30, then back again is confusing enough (even with correct signage) to form the basis of some sort of appeal, though how successful you would be with that is anyone’s guess.
Remember that I am not a lawyer and I am not offering legal advice. I am simply stating the obvious based on Nottingham City Council’s total incompetence over this matter.
20mph is too slow on 90% of the roads where it has been introduced.