In our recent Your Street – Your Views survey of Gosforth residents, poor air quality, traffic noise and dangerous driving were the 2nd, 3rd and 4th greatest issues for Gosforth High Street. All three can be made better through a reduction in the speed limit, which the Council are now proposing.

You can comment on the proposals on the Let’s Talk website up to Tuesday 7 May. We have included some extracts of the proposal below.

We have blogged about speed limits on Gosforth High Street before, and noted that if we want it to thrive as a family destination and the businesses to prosper, then we need to make the High Street a safe environment where parents are happy to window shop with their children.  

New speed limits won’t be sufficient by themselves but will be a good start. 

The speed limit will also be reduced on parts of The Great North Road. In a collision between a person walking or cycling and a vehicle, the chances of serious injury or death (KSI) increases dramatically with the speed of the vehicle.

As the mother of cyclist Daniel Rushton, who was killed on Newcastle’s Great North Road, says a speed limit change could save lives.

Newcastle City Council’s Proposal

Starting at the north end of the Great North Road by the A1, the speed from the A1 to just north of Brunton Lane will be 40mph, shown in green. From Brunton Lane south, the speed limit will be 30mph.

The 30mph speed limit will continue until just north of the shops on Gosforth High Street. From there the High Street will become 20mph. The 20mph limit will also extend west to Hedley Street and east just past the Moor Road North traffic lights.

The road will become 30mph again just south of Elmfield Road, which will continue past the Blue House roundabout. After that it becomes 40mph again right up to the junction with Claremont Road outside the Civic Centre.

Our Response

In the SPACE for Gosforth response we have supported the proposal and also asked for:

• Consideration of extending the 20mph zone up to Gosforth Academy, or temporary speed reductions when children are arriving or leaving the school
• Extending the 20mph zone west to the Gosforth Traders roundabout for similar reasons. This area is busy with children travelling to and from Gosforth Junior Academy and Archibald First school.
• Extending the 20mph zone further south so it starts before The Grove so it covers the pedestrian crossing.
• A review and redesign of the Gosforth High Street shopping area so that people driving through intuitively understand that 20mph is the right maximum speed rather than just relying on new signs.
• Ensuring residential streets parallel to the Great North Road / High Street are not used for through-traffic.

The post GNR Speed Limits – comments by 7 May appeared first on SPACE for Gosforth.