No Notices Getting Noticed!

A Licence to print money?

20 mph zones have the potential to increase safety and improve traffic black spots, but Essex County Council’s sudden adoption of a 20 mph zone in Chelmsford City centre, without clearly visible warning signs, is a licence to print money.  Chelmsford Labour Party is giving notice that this lack of notices is getting noticed!

A 20 MPH zone has suddenly appeared from the Parkway roundabout opposite the market in Victoria Road South, past the Railway Station, over the junction by the police station, beyond the entry to Riverside Ice and Leisure to the Riverside Inn in Victoria Road.  And yet there are no clear signs pointing out the entry into this 20mph zone or the exit at either end.  This is unacceptable.  Already local residents have fallen foul of this change of status, receiving traffic violation fines.

Coming from the Springfield Road end of Victoria Road, there is one 20mph sign on the left hand side so obscured by trees that it is almost invisible.  There are some smaller repeater signs on the opposite side of the road which can easily be obscured by oncoming traffic.  At no time are there clear signs on both sides of the road.  The situation is similar coming from other directions.

With the recent lack of signage to the bus gate on Duke Street, it is clear that Essex County Council has form and is using traffic violations as a means of making money rather than enforcing a safety measure.  Indeed, nothing has been done to improve the entry /exit from Riverside Ice and Leisure, which as Chelmsfordians will know, regularly causes traffic incidents.

In other towns and cities, it is standard practice to have signs announcing that traffic is entering a 20mph zone.  Chelmsford Labour Party is calling on Essex County Council to do the same and clarify the 20mph zone by erecting and improving signage.  Only then can the issue of safety be properly addressed.