Bochum Parkway speed limit

[diablo 10]

Is there a sensible reason why this road has a 40mph speed limit?

 

(For those who don't know, it's part of the southern Outer Ring, between Gleadless and Norton...)

 

It's a big dual carriageway, there are no houses on either side of it, almost no turnings apart from the odd farm gate ... I couldn't spot any obvious reason why it shouldn't be 60. Is there one? Was there one once and the Council never noticed it's gone? Or was there never one in the first place?

 

I did notice that we were just about the only car actually sticking to 40mph, and got overtaken by darn near everything on the road ... it seems that most Sheffielders, like me, think that a 40 limit on that stretch is just bizarre.

 

That may have been my partner as when we are going along there he always sticks to 40mph and is always getting overtaken by law breakers.

[HeadingNorth 11]

I've told you all the real reason for this, it is notheing to do with the footpaths or the cows.

 

Your earlier post explains why it was designed to have a 60 limit; it says nothing about why it doesn't actually have one.

[alex3659 11]

I've told you all the real reason for this, it is notheing to do with the footpaths or the cows.

 

No you haven't, all you said was the raod was designed for the national speed limit, which is not 40mph.

[alex3659 11]

That may have been my partner as when we are going along there he always sticks to 40mph and is always getting overtaken by law breakers.

 

Yep, I'm one of those.

There used to be a speed camera at the bottom of the road just before the special school.

Years ago that school was for spinabifida children.

[quisquose 10]

I have always been puzzled by the 40mph speed limit. I rarely see anybody going as slow as 40mph on this particular stretch anyway. There are no cameras, and from the time when I used to travel this stretch twice a day I can recall no police cars, so perhaps the authorities are puzzled as well.

 

There are only a couple of footpaths which are rarely used, and I lived for 25 years on Cinderhill Lane so used to use them. The only school is at the very end of the stretch, my mum used to work there, and with the exit next to the roundabout the cars will have already slowed down.

[alex3659 11]

I have always been puzzled by the 40mph speed limit. I rarely see anybody going as slow as 40mph on this particular stretch anyway. There are no cameras, and from the time when I used to travel this stretch twice a day I can recall no police cars, so perhaps the authorities are puzzled as well.

 

There are only a couple of footpaths which are rarely used, and I lived for 25 years on Cinderhill Lane so used to use them. The only school is at the very end of the stretch, my mum used to work there, and with the exit next to the roundabout the cars will have already slowed down.

 

There is also the road to Hazlebarrow farm.

[quisquose 10]

There is also the road to Hazlebarrow farm.

 

Which is where one of the footpaths is, the only one that is used tbh. Perhaps this is the reason for the 40mph limit, but it seems a weak reason to me. Never had a problem crossing there with the kids, so can't think that any of the (infrequent) traffic exiting there would either.

 

I remember the open fields that we used to play in as a kid, and was sorry to see a road built at all, but now it's there 40mph does seem a slow.

Edited December 3, 2009 by quisquose

[bladesufc1 10]

Yes,

this road was originally built as part of the sheffield outer ringroad, a ring which stops at meadowhead roundabout in the south and the SWFC ground in the north. The road was designed when they were still thinking of urban motorways and so the width of the lanes, central reservations, verges etc.. are designed for a road at national speed limit.

 

yes sort of correct, there are some turnings on the carriageway where you can turn left, if that wasn't the and the fact that animals do sometime cross the road, it would infact be a higher limit

[Planner1 437]

Is there a sensible reason why this road has a 40mph speed limit?

 

This is a question I asked too. I was told it's for reasons of consistency with the adjacent stretches of the outer ring road, which are also 40.

 

Sheffield Council and all others across the country are currently reviewing all speed limits, so it is being looked at.

[iansheff 88]

Back on topic, the only reason I can think of is that there at at least two public footpaths that cross the road (look for the signs).

 

I agree that it is a ridiculous speed limit.

 

Going back many years, I can also remember when the farmer used to walk his cows from one side to the other at the Lightwood end twice a day.

 

There is a crossing on the parkway just after you get on it at Handsworth heading to the M1.

[alex3659 11]

Which is where one of the footpaths is, the only one that is used tbh. Perhaps this is the reason for the 40mph limit, but it seems a weak reason to me. Never had a problem crossing there with the kids, so can't think that any of the (infrequent) traffic exiting there would either.

 

I remember the open fields that we used to play in as a kid, and was sorry to see a road built at all, but now it's there 40mph does seem a slow.

 

The farm on Cinderhill Lane used to have the fields before the road was built.

Andrea Braun lived there she was in my class at school.

[pberry 10]

This is a question I asked too. I was told it's for reasons of consistency with the adjacent stretches of the outer ring road, which are also 40.

 

Sheffield Council and all others across the country are currently reviewing all speed limits, so it is being looked at.

 

That's not a proper reason!

 

There's no reason at all why this stretch should not be 60 or NSL. You could even have the boundary between 40 and the upper limit set just past (eastbound) or before (westbound) the turning for the Mossbrook Nursery as I agree there's a need to keep the limit lower there for safety reasons.

 

However a traffic engineer acquaintance of mine once told me that in keeping the speed limit (40) well below the design speed for the road (70), people will tend to adopt a speed between the two (55), which they wouldn't do if the higher limit were posted.

 

Reverse psychology?