Gold-plated signs (Flossie Horne)

£150,000 to get traffic to slow down – what are they doing, putting up gold plated signs? Drew Ratter says it is a simple process so why is it costing so much?

I have heard it all now. When I lived in Church Road, myself and other people phoned the police sometimes two or three times a night to report speeding traffic and nothing was done. In fact when we did phone we were told if you did not have the make and number of car, they could do nothing.

Sometimes I could give them the number of the car and the name of the driver and still they did nothing – a waste of a phone call. Plus the speeders are not all young boys as Jonathan Wills says.

If this scheme comes off, the police and council are going to have to take a lot of drivers and teach them what a 20mph sign means. Maybe that’s what they are using some of the £150,000 on – sign lessons.

There is a 20mph sign along the street inbye the Queens Hotel and a lot of drivers ignore it, do not know what it means or just don’t see it. So why don’t the police get out of their cars and vans and walk along the street – there was never this problem when they did walk about.

Also bring back a traffic warden so something can be done about the parking issue along the south end of Lerwick.

If a fire engine had to come to the houses or flats, they would not manage to get along. So please drivers of delivery vans, taxis and cars with adults and children in them – slow down.

Remember some folk have to walk on the street, we do not all have cars – do it before someone gets injured or killed. The £150,000 could be used to fix all the loose slabs in the street before someone trips and breaks their neck.

Flossie Horne
3 Water Lane,
Lerwick.

COMMENTS(4)

Add Your Comment
  • Calum Irvine

    • March 20th, 2014 19:18

    It’s simple speed cameras !! And they can raise revenue too. A £150,000 is ridicules ,, I’m sure when I was driving at first there was a 20mph zone on the esplanade , the sign was on the old tin hut before it was refurbished, and became the LPA headquarters !!

    REPLY
  • Johan Adamson

    • March 21st, 2014 9:40

    As Ive said before, I am sure there must be a list of road safety issues which should be tackled before this one, its surely a question of priorities. Boys have been parading the street for 40 years in their Cortinas, Sciroccos, Audis and their pimped hairdryers without this limit and with no fatalities (as far as I am aware), whereas there are other areas of Shetland, note Shetland, not Lerwick, where there are accidents and fatalities waiting to happen and where the money could be better spent.

    REPLY
    • Johan Adamson

      • April 15th, 2014 9:13

      I see there are no funds for shetland wide road priorites, yet there is £150k available for this. Im very confused, can someone explain? I take it its a different pot?

      REPLY
  • Chris Baxter

    • May 12th, 2014 21:25

    “Sometimes I could give them the number of the car and the name of the driver and still they did nothing – a waste of a phone call.”

    Probably because you have no evidence whatsoever and all they can do is note it down in case they pull that person over in future. Let’s be honest now, you have no speed detection equipment set up and no camera, you can’t tell the police how fast a car is going, and even if you were able to supply such information they wouldn’t be able to prosecute based on your equipment.

    Additionally, one thing that I noticed when I had car-sensitive neighbours was that in my diesel saloon I could do more or less whatever speed I liked and nobody would bat an eye, but I could drive around in my sportscar at under the limit and still have people complain (they hear a loud-ish exhaust and assume you’re speeding).

    REPLY

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