Someone has shared a petition about stopping the temporary A483 50mph zone on my Facebook and it has over 1,500 signatures so far. Now I understand people’s frustration but very much doubt that the Welsh Assembly will listen no matter how many people complain about it. It’s set in stone.
https://www.change.org/p/wrexham-council-stop-the-permanent-50mph-zone-on-the-a483
But one statement in the petition that just makes local drivers sound moronic (or perhaps just the author) is this one:
Reduced Driver Awareness: A lot of drivers are far more concerned with watching their speed than the actual road a head of them. Since the start of the restriction there’s been quite a few accidents. That’s not to say there has been more than before but it certainly has not made the road any safer.
What drivers (including learners) are incapable of making sure they don’t go over the speed limit by watching their speed and the road ahead at the same time? How would anyone ever be able to switch between a 40 and 30 zone, down to a 20? The notion is ludicrous. It would imply that if these drivers were on a Smart Motorway where speeds regularly get changed by the overhead boards to deal with traffic flow people would be crashing their cars left, right and centre.
In fact the statement literally negates itself by saying there are an equal number of accidents on the road as there were previously when the speed was 70 mph – which would imply there is no abnormal concentration strain on drivers on this stretch of road that causes more accidents. The whole purpose of the speed reduction was to reduce pollution anyway and not accidents.