Published on 12, July, 2020
I've just written an email to a sympathetic local councillor asking them to install average speed cameras on two busy roads I live near where speeding is happening by often the same drivers every single day.
One of the roads I'm near is a 20 m.p.h. zone and is consistently ignored. Another is a faster road but one on which especially young drivers are showing off and being anti-social on, I believe possibly as a way to test the waters of what they can get away with, and in the typical fashion of young rebelliousness. While I appreciate speeding isn't the worst thing in the world it's a noise nuisance and in my opinion affects local businesses and the desirability of an area.
If I was opening a business I'd rather be somewhere where people are somewhat polite and respectful. Hopefully the issue will manage to be resolved.
Probably not overly practical but someone down our way who had pleaded with the the council to install speed cameras down her road (right near a school) went out every afternoon at school kicking out time stood in her front garden with a hairdryer. She pointed said hairdryer at every car zooming past as if tracking it. The hairdryer was a similar shape to the hand held cameras that traffic police use. It worked! There was a lot less speeding from then on, although I’m not sure if it’s still working. Sorry, not very practical but quite a funny, heartwarming story.
I find 20mph zones very difficult to comply with and frankly dangerous. I can either watch my speedometer or the road, not both at once.
People drive to the conditions. Clear sunlight, no parked cars, no visible pedestrians? 20mph is actually dangerously slow. Lots of parked cars, children playing? People slow down to well under the speed limit anyway.
So ignore the speed limit on your street, do not put in place speed cameras that actively discourage people from watching the road and surroundings, and if you want to deal with noise, invite traffic calming measures like road narrowing.
(Also, don't put in speed bumps. They damage cars and result in more noise, both from the cars making contact with them and also from the additional acceleration as people try to regain speed after going over them).