There is more misery for motorists on the horizon as the Isle of Wight Council looks set to slash speed limits on a number of key routes across the Island – despite admitting in its own report that speed is not the main factor in the vast majority of crashes.
A comprehensive report outlining the findings of a major Island-wide speed limit review has been released by the local authority, highlighting recommended proposals in the name of improving road safety.
Councillor Phil Jordan, Cabinet member for transport and infrastructure, has said that the primary goal of the review is to improve road safety for all users and reduce the risk of incidents. But motorists will be expressing their fury at proposals to slash the limit on a number of national roads, which will no doubt add to the frustration of being stuck behind less-than-confident motorists sometimes travelling at half the speed limit.
Recommendations have been put forward that would see the national speed limit reduced to 50mph on Long Lane, Newport; Ashey Road, Ryde; Brading Down Road, Brading; Canteen Road, Apse Heath; Leeson Road/Bonchurch Road/Cowleaze Road, Ventnor; Rolls Hill, Porchfield; Whitwell Road, Ventnor; Combley Road, Havenstreet and Whiterails Road, Wootton.
It is also proposed that the national limit is reduced to 40mph for Stroudwood Road, Ryde; Pixely Hill and Copse Lane in Freshwater; Lynch Lane in Calbourne and Middle Road at Calbourne.
Despite the Department for Transport stating that 40mph should be considered where there are many bends, junctions or accesses, substantial development, a strong environmental or landscape reason, or where there are considerable numbers of vulnerable road users, the Isle of Wight Council is also proposing to reduce Marshcombe Shute, Brading – between Yarbridge and Yaverland – from 60mph to 40mph, despite being a fairly straight road with no properties or side roads.
Meanwhile, 20mph zones are being proposed for York Avenue in East Cowes, Main Road in Havenstreet and for Lane End Road, Bembridge, as well as Carisbrooke High Street, Newport; High Street, Sandown; High Street, Ventnor; Avenue Road, Freshwater; Main Road, Shorwell and Upton Road in Ryde.
Horsebridge Hill – the main road between Newport and Cowes – could be dropped down to 30mph and a reduced speed limit is also being considered for Whitcombe Road on the outskirts of Carisbrooke.
The remodelling of roads at Albert Street in Sandown, Union Street in Ryde, Landguard Road in Shanklin, Ashey Road in Ryde and Blackwater Hollow, Newport also make up part of the speed review.
But does the data add up…? In the 5 years up to December 2023, collision data shows that 9 people were killed on 30 or 40mph roads, with 9 killed on 50 or 60mph roads. For serious injuries, 235 occurred on roads 40mph or under, whilst only 107 occurred on roads 50mph and above. The slight injury data shows the same pattern with 631 recorded incidents on roads under 40mph and just 261 on roads 50mph and above.
The Council says that by focusing on speed management, the tragic consequences of high-speed accidents can be reduced – even though a large number of road traffic collisions (many attended in person by Island Echo) are caused by impaired or incompetent driving, as opposed to speed. This anecdotal observation is backed up by the Council’s own report which states that speed is not the main contributory factor in many of these collisions.
Over the last 5 years, exceeding the speed limit has been recorded as a contributory factor in just 8.5% of crashes, according to the report prepared by Island Roads and presented by the Isle of Wight Council.
The review also states that a previous speed review in 2010/2011 led to a number of changes being implemented including on Military Road at Brighstone, where the average speed and the number of collisions actually increased after the speed limit was reduced.
It’s said that this latest review has been informed by residents’ concerns about vehicle speeds on specific roads or sections of road, with some 200 requests logged. These requests come from residents, businesses, parish, town and community councils, as well as ward councillors. To ensure a thorough review, an additional 210 sites were reviewed in 2022 to understand typical driver behaviour on roads with different characteristics.
Councillor Karen Lucioni, Cabinet member for community protection, has stressed the importance of reducing vehicle speeds to lower both the number and severity of collisions. She’s said:
“When vehicles travel at 20mph or below, the chances of survival for vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists, increase dramatically in the event of an impact. It’s a simple yet powerful change that can save lives.
“Similarly, keeping speeds under 40mph greatly enhances the survival chances of vehicle occupants in head-on collisions. It’s about creating safer environments for everyone on the road, whether they’re walking, cycling, or driving.
“By focusing on speed management, we can make our roads safer and reduce the tragic consequences of high-speed accidents.”
Further work is needed to determine the extent of these changes and the costs involved, which will be addressed once the sites to be targeted have been agreed.
The report and its recommendations will be considered by the Council’s Cabinet next Thursday (9th January).
All very well, and in some places a good idea, but who will be policing it to make sure the boy racers and bikers obay it, who can’t seem able to obay the speed limits as they are already?
Good Camera’s will do the trick and heavy fines
sent in the post to the guilty party.
Clearly not applying common sense and digesting the real reasons for the amount accidents on the Island and using them as an excuse to drop speed to reduce maintenance. A National requires higher standards of maintenance than a 50mph section of road. It does not address the major issues that the Island has – drug driving, drink driving or careless through poor driving. It also means zero funding to attempt to tackle these issues.
Best article I have read in years.
I have been saying for years motorists drive too fast
on the island.
Well done Cllr Jordan
We must make sure that this is Policed though
because many motorists will still break the limit.
Why not charge islandwide permit parking fees,
the revenue raised will pay towards Camera’s or extra
police etc that is required to catch speeding motorists.
I have just been listening to the radio about mobile phone
use whilst driving, in Europe new vehicles will be
manufactured to prevent mobile phone use in vehicles.
We need to make our roads safe, we are getting
there.
Enough is enough of your desire for a dystopian dictatorship, you’d be welcoming of a mind control chip for the masses if it were available!
How about you put your endless passion for banning, outlawing, cessation into somthing relevant to the roads.
Drug and drink driving are the bigger problem on the island!!
Blimey, you must never leave your mums spare room, otherwise you’d realise it’s only a dream to be able to do 50mph in 60mph on the island, try my daily commute, some days we are all stuck behind a bimbler doing 30 in a 60!
The Isle of Wight Council can always be relied on to implement the most stupid solution to problems that don’t exist. Morons wasting our money.
Great move by IW Council
Some of the worst Roads I have seen on the island for
speeding
Military Road
Briddlesford Road
Embankment Road
Beachfield Road
Godshill High Street
High Park Road
Great Preston Road
Yaverland Road
There are many more, but these are very bad.
And you think changing the signs will slow the youngsters down? Deeply daft.
Installing decent speed Camera’s will do
the trick.
God help us all! It’s already failed in Wales…There aren’t enough traffic cops to police it as it is and if there were the drop in limits wouldn’t be needed as they would catch the speeders. There are just as many issues caused by those that drive too slow. When are we going to wake up and realise that people need to take responsibility for their own actions- that’s drivers, cyclists and pedestrians alike!
It’s not failed in Wales, it’s being rolled
out in more and more places.
Best thing since sliced bread.
Brading High Street and Godshill High Street are
20mph zones, yet vehicles are forever going much
faster.
Camera’s need installing to catch the culprits who
break the speed limits.
Motorists ignore signs with NO Camera’s
I completely agree with you! Thank God I’m not the only person that thinks the same, as I really was thinking that I’m alone in my thoughts about this crazy situation on the island roads.
We need more traffic Police to stop
the speeding motorists.
I agree with some of the speed reductions mentioned, however, by the Council’s own admission, speed is not the main contributing factor when it comes to island road accidents, so I have 5 questions:
1. What are the main contributing factors before speed?
2. As they already know that speed isn’t the main contributing factor, why are they concentrating on speed, rather than dealing with the real problem?
3. Are they hoping the real problem will go away if they wear blinkers or brush it under the carpet?
4. How can they justify spending, what is probably a ridiculous amount of tax payers money, trying to right a problem that isn’t THE problem?
5. Exactly how much is fixing the non-problem (in the main), going to cost us?
This is another example of the council wasting tax payers money to not sort out a problem.
ITV could write a sitcom about our council.
Speed is rife on the island. I see it every day on
the island, it’s about time IW Council tackled the
speeding problem, and now they finally are thanks to
Cllr Jordan.
Now we need the Council to get tough on vehicles
parking on Pavements and Double Yellow Lines.
I would like to see vehicles towed away and crushed
NUMPTY’S WON’T DO IT AGAIN!!
Great, our council are proposing wasting more of our taxes again!
“despite admitting in its own report that speed is not the main factor in the vast majority of crashes.” Our esteemed council are solving a problem that even they admit doesn’t really exist?
Makes you wonder how much this decision will cost, new signs, new road markings and Police enforcement?
Speed is not the problem, the money needs to be spent on modifying dangerous junctions and catching drink/drug drivers. Money is short, don’t waste it on pointless gestures like this!!
Speeding is a big problem on the island
Go along
Military Road
Beachfield Road
Great Preston Road
Briddlesford Road
and see for yourself. I would like to see the
Council install more speed humps etc
I think we all know (or most of us do, apart from a few exceptions on here and the cycling lobby at the Council) that drink and drugs appear to be the main cause of road accidents on the Island these days.
Yes, people do speed, but changing a traffic sign from 50 to 40 won’t stop those people.
Taking the drugged up and/or drunk drivers off the road surely has to be the first priority.
I agree that it would be nice if everyone kept to the speed limits, but I’ve yet to hear of any evidence that changing a sign from 50 to 40 or whatever makes the slightest difference to 18 year old Wayne in his modified, big exhaust, boy-racer car racing on the streets at night.
Personally, I don’t want cameras on every street monitoring people in their cars, I’d rather the effort and money was spent on getting druggies and drunks off the roads permanently. To me, they’re far more of a menace than someone driving at 35mph in a 30 zone.
But, I think there’s a prominent pro-cyclist, anti-car lobby at the Council and, based on past experiences, the Council will do what it wants even though it’s maybe not what the majority of people want,
I would charge islandwide permit parking charges,
the revenue raised will pay for extra police and
speed Camera’s that are required to “ENFORCE”
the Law.
ADVERT more speed wombles needed,you need to be over 65, have no idea what you are doing,and are fed up with knitting,hi vis supplied,perks of job are as follows,standing on bends to catch people out,must be able to withstand the obvious verbal abuse you will get,have an ,iam helping the community attitude,and iam bored and have nothing alse to do mindset,all this whilst giving a thumbs up to a county press reporter from A and E after getting lumped,by a fed up,over burdened,over taxed fed up motorist who has had enough of this utter crap.
be wise,stay at home and eat some custard creams!
Well done Cllr Jordan! I am particularly pleased about the proposal for 20mph along Carisbrooke High Street. I had relatives visit from the mainland last month and they were shocked that Carisbrooke High Street is not already a 20mph zone. There is a primary school there, and some houses have little or no footpath. Those people having to step out of their front door, directly onto a 30mph road is unacceptable! It is also unacceptable for parents, taking their children to school, to have to cross this fast and busy road. I often see cars and vans driving much faster than 30mph down this road.
I am pleased I thought I was the only one
who knows there is a speeding problem
on the island.
Well done to Cllr Jordan finally doing
something about it.
Cutting limits on rural roads isn’t the answer, we need better driver education. If the driver feels the limit is not appropriate to the road they will ignore it and potentially go for a risky overtake which puts a fast moving car on the wrong side of the road. A few drivers see a speed limit and aim for it as they are not properly trained. Most people drive or ride to the ability of their vehicle and their own skill level
I’ve seen this done in Surrey and it seems to lead to frustration and danger on a road that used to run well at 60 with no known accidents.
Teach people how to drive properly and you solve most of the problems. Maybe as a motorcycle license holder I remember the training better as if you ignored it you die. The training I received is very useful in the driver’s seat too. People should ride a bike a year before being able to apply for a car license.
Driver education, don’t make me laugh
Majority of island motorists cannot be
educated, speed is in their DNA
Absolutely stupid, Even the stats say it’s NOT speed that’s the problem. Since the pandemic driving standards have got far worse. The problem is drivers are driving 15 / 20 mph slower than the road speed limit but nothing is done about this, if you can’t drive to the speed and conditions of the roads you should hand your driving licence in and start using the bus. This would reduce 90% of the accidents and traffic on the road, which will also reduce pollution.
Why not stand at traffic islands and make notes of idiots who can use island and retest them … also legalise UBER taxis on island so a taxi can be called at short notice and no need to remortgage house to pay for it … I’m sure many people would be happy to pay for taxi instead of driving if rates corresponded with mainland prices and are available after 9pm without need to book day before
Looks like IoW council are taking lessons from the Welsh Government on traffic speed limits. The Welsh experience will almost certainly see the Labour Welsh Assembly Government out of power at their next election in 2026.
Be warned 😉