The Case For A Twenty Mile Per Hour Speed Limit In Sully And Beyond

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today....and that especially includes you, Vale of Glamorgan council.

Currently we're renting near Sully, a small village between Penarth and Barry Town. A pleasant place but if the signs I notice driving through are of any guide there are apparently two issues which have caused anger amongst the permanent residents. One are the proposed housing developments for the village. On this issue I'm currently on the fence. If only because I don't know what type of developments are being proposed.

But the other, whose sign I've only just seen today, is trying to persuade you to reduce the speed limit for vehicles that enter the village to twenty miles per hour. On this issue the answer should be obvious. On this you should agree with the people.

Now for the moment let's ignore the main road of the village (South Road) and concentrate on most of the other roads. Because those of us who've driven round the area know full well that there really is no reason to drive around there at thirty mph. These roads are generally relatively short, and a lot of them windy and thin.

It's important to remember that we're talking here about the roads that are in the village and not those that could go to the outside of it (such as Sully Road) so essentially the specific long stretch of road that we would need to speak about is South Road. Home to the convenience store, the library, the post office and the playing fields.

In seemingly empty traffic it's not impossible to reach thirty miles per hour on this road. Whilst there is a set of traffic lights there's not that many other things that I recall would curtail a person's speed behind the wheel along this road. Now if you're driving on the other side of the road to the convenience store and there's a delivery truck on that side it means that the lane the truck is parked in is blocked you won't see until the last minute the teenager suddenly running across the road. I am old enough to remember the ads that explained that you have more chance surviving being hit by a car doing twenty than doing thirty miles per hour.

So Vale Of Glamorgan Council how about reducing the speed limit in the village to twenty miles per hour? It's simple, cheap and effective...and you know full well that if you don't do it then it will take one child/teenager's death to change your mind. So how about doing it now?

And while you're at it (though I can't say I've done the research) I'm sure there are roads in Barry Town and Penarth that this could help as well.

You know it makes sense.

Until the next time.