43% of drivers on Forncett’s main roads exceed the speed limit

Written by Phil Whiscombe.

The speed awareness sign (SAM2) reported in a previous Flyer as being purchased by the Parish Council was delivered in November and is now being employed around the village by a team of four volunteers - Harry Bowers, Keith Fromings, Philip Yull and the writer. Locations for the signs, on stretches of road limited to 30 mph, have been designated by Norfolk County Council’s highways department. There are 3 locations in Forncett End on the Norwich Road (B 1113) and the Long Stratton Road and 3 locations in Forncett St Peter on Mill Road and Low Road and generally the sign will only remain in each location for a maximum of about two weeks.

SAM2Most drivers will be aware of the SAM2 signs - they are vehicle activated and indicate clearly to the drivers of oncoming vehicles their speed in mph. If they are exceeding the speed limit a flashing warning sign will entreat them to ‘SLOW DOWN’. The actual vehicle speed will continue to be displayed up to 39 mph but above this no speed is indicated so as not to further encourage those drivers who might see a challenge in seeing how high a speed they can generate on the sign although the warning sign will continue to flash. This latest generation of sign also records the number of vehicle movements and the speed of any vehicle when it activates the sign. We now have recorded data from the initial three locations and the results are in the table below.

The locations of the sign were:
   ‘A’ - outside Austhorpe House adjacent to the bus shelter on Norwich Road (B1113) northbound.
   ‘B’ - on the bend outside the Methodist Church on Long Stratton Road westbound.
   ‘C’ - on the Mill Road hill westbound (recorded over the Christmas and New Year periods).

Forncett road speeds

Overall an average of 43% of drivers on our village’s main roads exceeded the statutory 30 mph speed limit. A significant proportion of these do so at speeds that shows little regard for the safety of the village and its residents. It’s also worth noting that these higher end violations were not all recorded at the dead of night as might be expected, there being a fairly even spread throughout the full 24 hour periods including the daytime peak periods.

Top Speeding ‘prizes’ go to drivers of vehicles on: Norwich Road (B 1113) northbound on the 10th December at 10.20 am clocked at between 65 and 70 mph, and, Mill Road westbound on the 24th December at 6.20 pm clocked at between 85 and 90 mph. We’ll continue to update this information in future editions of the Flyer.