Action should be taken to reduce the speed of traffic in Castletown before there is a serious accident.
This was the warning made by residents David and Brenda Brown, whose request that the Department of Infrastructure (DoI) impose a 20mph speed limit on the majority of the town’s roads was rejected by the department.
The Douglas Street residents said the speed of traffic on their street alone has ‘definitely’ increased in recent years, they, and other residents, feel action should be taken.
The town’s local authority is sympathetic to their stance.
Last year, Mr and Mrs Brown made a similar request to the department, but it fell on deaf ears. Prompted by a similar action in Peel, where the local authority’s suggestion for a 20mph limit on all but major arteries was also rejected by the department, the Browns reiterated their request.
‘The DoI have said “no” to Castletown and now “no” to Peel,’ said Mr Brown. ‘Collectively, we need to continue the pressures on the DoI to listen to our concerns, through the various local town commissioners and their respective MHKs.
‘It is a very serious matter and the DoI must put public safety at the top of their agenda. Pedestrians throughout the island are now at risk of serious injury with the increasing number of vehicles on our narrow town roads and the deteriorating standard of driving.’
Mrs Brown added the town has four schools meaning there are a lot of children negotiating narrow pavements.
‘What is needed is some common sense from the DoI to change their position on the introduction of 20mph in residential areas. It works well in many towns and cities across,’ said Mr Brown.
He suggested 20mph be painted on the roads with signposts and ‘twenty’s plenty’ written on them.
In response to their latest bid to impose the limit, Kevin Almond, network traffic and transportation manager at the DoI’s Highways Division said there were no reported personal injury road traffic accidents on any of the residential streets within Castletown within the last three years.
‘Speed data collected from various residential streets shows that only a very small percentage of drivers travel faster than the post speed limits.
He said that the majority of drivers travel within the speed limit so the department ‘would not support creating additional 20mph speed limits within Castletown at this time’.
Mr Brown said: ‘We are all very disappointed as we had the full support of Castletown Town Commissioners and from many residents in the town.
‘It looks as if there has to be a number of reported accidents before any action is taken by the Highways Division, which is baffling as the purpose of our proposal was to prevent accidents happening in the future with a minimum cost factor for signs, etc.’
