At the LLRA AGM, on 22 May at 7pm in the Discovery Cafe, residents will be asked to decide in principle whether LLRA should spend circa £3,000 on the purchase of a Speed Indicator Device (SID) for traffic calming. A SID displays a driver’s actual speed and reminds them of the speed limit. If approval is given, further work will be undertaken by LLRA to establish details on the technical suitability of proposed site locations for the SID, before purchase. Provisional locations are indicated on the map at the bottom of this article.
LLRA is also appealing for three or four public spirited volunteers from the community who, if the purchase if approved, would need to commit about an hour per month (at a time to suit volunteers) to assist with moving the SID between locations (it is mounted on an existing post such as a lamp post), recharging the device and downloading data from it.
Whilst police enforcement can help with vehicles driving at very high speeds, there is also a clear safety benefit to calming the speed of all traffic on Long Leys Road. The SID would be installed as part of the Community Speed Watch (CSW) initiative and displays a driver’s speed and reminds them of the speed limit. A 2015 study for Dorset County Council showed that the number of drivers above 35 mph (the APCOA guideline for penalty enforcement) dropped from around 40% to 20% and that there was a 5mph drop in speed for the fastest 15% of drivers. The conclusion of the report was: “It is clear that by deploying the SID unit on and off over long period maintains a steady reduction in vehicle speeds. The behavior of drivers exposed to this intervention was positively influenced; even during the weeks the SID unit was not deployed, possibly because drivers weren’t sure when to expect the SID unit to return.”
The SID would be moved every four to six weeks to one of about eight fixed locations in the area. The purchase of the device would be funded out of part of the Section 106 money held by Lincolnshire County Council for community chosen capital projects in Long Leys (around £70,000).
In advance of the AGM, the information below gives more detail on the proposed spend. Please do come along to the AGM to discuss and vote on this proposal.
If you are unable to attend the AGM and wish to make any comments, or would like to volunteer to help the community with this initiative, please email LLRA@long-leys.org.
(How to find the Discovery Cafe in Long Leys).
Overview of SID (Speed Indicator Device) proposal
Following discussions with Councillor Robert Parker and feedback from concerned residents about the speed of vehicles along Long Leys Road, LLRA propose to spend circa £3,000 on the purchase of a Speed Indicator Device (SID) which displays a driver’s speed and reminds them of the speed limit. Whilst police enforcement can help with vehicles driving at very high speeds, there is also a clear safety benefit to calming the speed of all traffic on Long Leys Road. Nationally, 63% of drivers (nearly two thirds) admit to speeding by 5mph in a 30mph limit (Source: Brake the UK Road Safety charity).
Studies have shown motorists do become complacent about signs they see on a regular basis, to the degree that after time many may ignore signs altogether. Therefore, a greater success will be obtained by not leaving any sign erected in any one place for too long a period. It is a condition of the Community Speed Watch scheme that no SID is left in the same location for longer than 6 weeks. Study data from 2008 in one area of London (Kingston-Upon-Thames) using SIDs shows that “an overall speed reduction of 1.4mph was detected across all sites whilst the SIDs were operational. The reduction varied between sites from 0.6mph to 2.6mph. The proportions of drivers exceeding 30mph and 36mph (ACPO guidelines) were significantly reduced at all sites except one whilst the SID was in operation, showing that speeding drivers are affected by SIDs.”
A more recent (2015) study for Dorset County Council showed that the number of drivers above 35 mph (the APCOA guideline for penalty enforcement) dropped from around 40% to 20% and that there was a 5mph drop in speed for the fastest 15% of drivers. The conclusion was: “It is clear that by deploying the SID unit on and off over long period maintains a steady reduction in vehicle speeds. The behavior of drivers exposed to this intervention was positively influenced; even during the weeks the SID unit was not deployed, possibly because drivers weren’t sure when to expect the SID unit to return.”
For full detail on these reports on the impact of SIDs see:
- Effectiveness of Speed Indicator Devices on reducing vehicle speeds in London (2008)
- The effectiveness of Speed Indicator Devices (SID) (2015)
The SID would be installed as part of the Community Speed Watch (CSW) initiative in collaboration with Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership (LRSP). The SID would be moved by resident volunteers every four to six weeks to one of about eight locations in the area; provisionally six points on Long Leys Road and two points around St. Faith’s School (where children from the wider Carholme community, including Long Leys, go to school). The device also has a data capture facility, allowing downloads to a lap-top, to provide a measure of average and maximum speeds of traffic in the area; there is no recording of the identity of individual vehicles. Where necessary, the data can be used by LLRA to identify problem areas to Highways and other bodies to encourage additional measures to improve road safety.
The SID is battery powered and light-weight (12kgs) allowing easy and frequent movement between different sites, using brackets permanently fixed at each chosen location (generally a post such as a lamp post). The unit is a Unitpart Dorman DF11 with a high intensity Amber LED display with 280mm (11”) high, seven segment characters which is visible in all daylight and night-time conditions. The sign enters a sleep mode when not activated so should not disturb sleeping residents with light pollution any more than the speeding car that activated it.
LLRA is also appealing for three or four volunteers from the community who would need to commit about an hour per month (at a time to suit volunteers) to assist with moving the SID between locations, recharging the device and downloading data from it.
The purchase of the SID would be funded from the Section 106 money held for us by Lincolnshire County Council for the purchase of community assets. Annual insurance for the system would cost circa £100 and be paid out of LLRA general funds. Whilst LLRA generally intend to use the future Neighbourhood Plan to determine priorities for Section 106 spend, it is felt that this is an essential spend now to keep residents, particularly children, safe on local roads.
There are 30 mph signs before reaching the bypass bridge on Long Leys Road coming from the junction of Saxilby Road and further on a 30 mph electronic sign just pass the Plymouth Brethren Church. However, from the junction at Yarborough Road coming down Long Leys Road there is an 30 mph electronic sign in operation but no other 30 mph signage.
It was argued in the past for a few more 30 mph signs be attached to lamp posts but Highways at Lincolnshire County Council said that the signs were not appropriate. I made a case for these signs on behalf of the LLRA and before when part of WERA and on both occasions was told they were not essential.
Would it not be cheaper to have extra fixed 30 mph signs attached to lamp posts?
The two 30 mph electronic signs were paid for coming from a specific fund set up by the Lincolnshire County Council who maintain them. Councillor Robert Parker and I made a good case for them to be installed as we fought to have the traffic lights installed at the top of Long Leys Road when the City of Lincoln first refused for various reasons but retracted later.
Motorists using Long Leys Road going to and from the city and travelling elsewhere still speed and have been doing so since I move here 18 years ago. One time police officers and PCSOs used speed camera guns, and of course, a mobile police van captured speeding vehicles on camera but has not been seen for some time.
Just a few thoughts on the matter!
John,
Thanks for the feedback and good summary of the existing position.
The original question we asked ourselves, before exploring what a SID could do, was:
Some options, such as cycle lanes and wider pedestrian islands in the middle of roads at key crossing points (that allow a pushchair or mobility scooter to pause in the middle), could be a challenge to implement and requires the approval and finance from other bodies such as Highways. We do intend to explore these options longer term as part of the previously announced Neighbourhood Plan proposal. We have also encouraged police enforcement of the speed limit but we all know that this has limited impact as word gets around quickly to avoid the mobile cameras; it changes behaviour for a day or two at most. We were advised that a permanent speed (enforcement) camera is unlikely to be installed unless there was unfortunately first a history of death or serious injury on Long Leys Road. They are not installed as a preventative measure and the priority is understandably given to those roads with the highest casualty rates.
As reported in the article above, in terms of evidence of the effectiveness of SIDs , a (2015) study for Dorset County Council showed that the number of drivers above 35 mph (the APCOA guideline for penalty enforcement) dropped from around 40% to 20% and that there was a 5mph drop in speed for the fastest 15% of drivers.
Whilst it would be cheaper to have 30mph signs attached to lamp posts there is no published evidence available that doing this would achieve our objectives of making the community safer or reducing excessive speeds. If cheapness, rather than road safety, is the objective then doing nothing is probably the better option.
The Long Leys community can judge and decide (by attending and voting at the AGM) whether this is a worthwhile proposal to support.
Kind regards
Jon Davies