50 speed limit for Woodstock road?

Fri 12 Jan 2007, 20:36

I noticed the other day that a planning notice had gone up on a post right up on the Woodstock Rd just by where the bridlepath goes off towards the town, so it will be implemented in the next month or so I should think. I'm actually in favour of this move, and would welcome a lot more speed cameras (like one on the Enstone Rd hidden by the Hundley Way junction - crossing the road with a toddler by the cross roads frequently finds one half way over when someone comes around that corner doing 50-60 despite the 30mph sign 200 yards before! And don't get me started about the utterly inadequate lighting of the crossroads with all the kids who live up at this end of town, my last letter to the council didn't even merit a reply giving some indication of how much childrens' safety counts for compared to the cost of the rates around here.

For fuel saving and deer saving and underskilled and overspeeded incompetent moron drivers over the white line reasons I rarely exceed 50mph since after a few months from moving out of Oxford. Three really (really really) close encounters of the ungulate kind have taught me the folly of twilight and nightime speed - in one case if the other side of the road hadn't been empty there would be one maimed deer and a written off Alhambra MPV (hopefully high enough to stop said deer coming in through windscreen) as a full on emergency stop with ABS in full operation ended up with me and kids stopped with deer peering in through back window at the kids as I'd been able to move over to the right.

I'm also sick of people coming around corners over the middle of the road with horror stricken faces as they see me coming on the correct side of the road - modern cars are lulling people into driving well beyond their capacities what with powerful engines, forgiving suspensions, high traction tyres, and ABS braking. Its been quite a shock, as when I were a country lad in the early 70s Morris Minors and Austin A35s etc simply did not allow people to drive at such speeds and enforced lane discipline. I've taken to driving with main beams on all the time as it definitely seems to wake up the dozy gits with their noses pressed to the road surface immediately in front of their vehicles as they try and control them around the varying radius corners, so they move over and allow me enough room to only trim the hedge with my wing mirror and not the entire left side of the vehicle.

There really has been a marked change in driving styles in rural areas in the last 25-30 years, and its not been for the better.

Incidentally, I've heard tell of a "deer alert" ultrasonic device one can clip onto the inside of the car grill which wakes the dozy browsers up so they don't wander into the road in front of one. Anyone come across one of these before?

A similar device to wake up endangered species Barn Owls wouldn't be a bad idea either, nearly had two of those since moving here as they hunt the verge for obvious prey reasons.

Finally, the CO2 payback - I'm regularly getting about 52mpg from veg oil derived diesel for a large 1.8l diesel MPV by adopting a sedate driving style. Pushing it up to 60-65 mph on straighter bits into Witney or Summertown makes about 2-3 minutes difference to arrival time and 10mpg less fuel consumption and heaven knows what increase of risk statistics.

Hardly seems worth the effort for 2-3 minutes gain, and then only on occassion as it is overwhelmingly traffic load conditions that determine journey times anyway.