Temporary vehicle activated signage to notify motorists of their speed has been strategically placed near two local schools as a short-term measure following long-term community concerns over speeding.
Cllr Phil Webb by one of the signs
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The signs will make their special guest appearance throughout December near Bitterne Park Primary and secondary schools, on Dimond Road, Manor Farm Road and Oaktree Road.
And they’re set to return for an encore next summer.
The signs flash up a vehicle’s speed if it’s being driven over the current 30mph limit, and will also apparently collect data on speeds to inform future decision making.
Ward councillor Phil Webb’s (Lab) post on his Facebook page said the signs are “to address this issue in the short term”. It suggested vehicle activated signage “has proven effective in slowing down drivers and increasing compliance with speed limits”.
He told bitternepark.info speeding drivers are “one of the major things that is always flagged up” when out canvassing.
As reported, there were resident requests for 20mph speed limits to be introduced on multiple roads around Bitterne Park under an early 2022 council consultation. These included for Manor Farm Road, Glenfield Avenue, Oaktree Road, St Catherines Road, Dimond Road and on roads around Whitworth Crescent.
On the way to school - with a sign in the background
The council stressed at the time that evidence of resident support would be crucial, and a 93-signature petition calling for a 20mph speed limit on Manor Farm Road was submitted as part of the process.
Responding to the petition the council said that, beyond those areas initially selected — which are Bassett and Flowers Estate, St Denys, Shirley and Freemantle, Old Redbridge, and Woolston and Weston — others would be “individually consulted over the next two years through to the end of 2023”, although "within two years" from around February 2022 was also a mentioned timescale. As yet it’s understood any plans, and a consultation for Bitterne Park, have yet to be published.
Slower speed limits in the city are by no means welcomed by all, however: frequent below-the-line comments abhor 20mph restrictions, and in some areas including Hill Lane, 20 signs have been vandalised and obscured.
It was reported in 2016 that Southampton Itchen MP Royston Smith (Con), had started a petition to “roll out the [20mph] speed limit in residential areas where there is support from the community”, and had proposed a similar scheme in 2014 that was at that time rejected by the council.
Photos courtesy Phil Webb