Devon & Cornwall Police

Record 1

Freedom of Information Act Request No:001186/11

I have noticed on the internet that the speed limit on part of the A3022 has been reduced from 40mph to 30mph, see

From the article I cannot see a logical reason for the reduction, and quoting "The signs will be on roads known for speeding." this decision, by p.c Chris Lancaster and Councillor Chris Lewis, seems to be wrong in terms of safety, as inappropriately reduced limits encourages traffic bunching, dangerous overtaking and the risk of head on accidents. I am sure that these safety people know of these consequences, but under FOI I would appreciate knowing more about over-all circumstances.

  1. "The decision to reduce the limits was agreed by councillors in June 2009".Please advise of the names of the councillors who attended, and how they voted in terms of for or against or abstain. A majority vote must have occurred and the information should be held by Partnership member Councillor Lewis. I would appreciate seeing a copy of the minutes regarding the decision, as pdf attachment, for reassurance that the issue was properly debated. Please direct this part of the request to Councillor Lewis to complete as the public need to be reassured that councillors are acting responsibly.
  2. It is an odd decision to reduce limits on a fast flowing road, which encourages overtaking, rather than to enforce the existing 40mph limit. Please provide evidence of the reasons behind the reduction decision, in terms of three year accident data or local community concern letters, or any other considerations. I am sure there must be some evidential justification.
  3. On the A3022, how many reminder signs advising motorists of in force speed limit of 40mph were along the route prior to the speed reduction, and how many legal reminder signs advising of the 30mph limit are currently in place? On the same issue of signage, I believe that temporary 30mph advisory signs were in place for a while, so please also advise how many of these signs were put up and if they are still in place. How many `speed camera` advisory signs are in each direction in the same area? These queries are to establish, for obvious safety reasons, how well motorists are being informed about the enforcement and limits subsequent to the reduction.
  4. The new Government Minister, Mr Pickles, has explained that they are dedicated to see transparency of data, and thus in regards to the section of A3022 subject to the speed reduction, what was the 95 percentile speed prior to the reduction, and when measured subsequently? What were the Killed/Seriously Injured figures prior to the reduction, and quarterly KSI figures subsequent to the reduction? How many motorists, in each direction, have been caught speeding, on a monthly basis, subsequent to the limit being reduced?
  5. Please advise if the A3022 speed reduction has been legally approved by a Traffic Regulatory Order, the date the TRO came into effect, the description of the roads covered by the TRO, and where a copy of the TRO is held for inspection.

Clarification:

The scope of my FOI relates only to the area detailed by the SouthWest business news

QUOTE "A stretch of the A3022 Brixham to Dartmouth Road between Bascombe Road at Windy Corner, and East and West Lodge at Strawberry Bends, Churston, has been reduced from a 40mph to 30mph. The cut in the speed was agreed by councillors in June".

Please also note that I wish to amend my references to "95 percentile" speed data with "85 percentile"speed data, as I believe that is the statistic that would have been assessed before and after implementation.

The Road Casualty Reduction Officer for Torbay & Teignbridge LPA’s has provided the following information:

  1. "The decision to reduce the limits was agreed by councillors in June 2009". Please advise of the names of the councillors who attended, and how they voted in terms of for or against or abstain. A majority vote must have occurred and the information should be held by Partnership member Councillor Lewis. I would appreciate seeing a copy of the minutes regarding the decision, as pdf attachment, for reassurance that the issue was properly debated. Please direct this part of the request to Councillor Lewis to complete as the public need to be reassured that councillors are acting responsibly.

Devon & Cornwall Constabulary do not hold any information relating to this part of your request.

  1. It is an odd decision to reduce limits on a fast flowing road, which encourages overtaking, rather than to enforce the existing 40mph limit. Please provide evidence of the reasons behind the reduction decision, in terms of three year accident data or local community concern letters, or any other considerations. I am sure there must be some evidential justification.

Devon & Cornwall Constabulary do not hold any information relating to this part of your request.

  1. On the A3022, how many reminder signs advising motorists of in force speed limit of 40mph were along the route prior to the speed reduction, and how many legal reminder signs advising of the 30mph limit are currently in place? On the same issue of signage, I believe that temporary 30mph advisory signs were in place for a while, so please also advise how many of these signs were put up and if they are still in place. How many `speed camera` advisory signs are in each direction in the same area? These queries are to establish, for obvious safety reasons, how well motorists are being informed about the enforcement and limits subsequent to the reduction.

Devon & Cornwall Constabulary do not hold the number of 40mph repeater signs that were in place on the stretch of road in question prior to the reduction.However there would have been enough signs to be compliant with the requirements of the Traffic Signs Regulations & General Directions 2002 Manual(TSRGD) in accordance with Direction 11.

Again in accordance with TSRGD there are no ‘reminder’ or repeater 30mph signs in the length of road in question as there is a system of street lighting which dictates the speed limit, as on any other urban 30mph road.

There were temporary ‘New 30mph Speed Limit In Force’ signs (sign 7032 TSRGD) in place, there is no record of how many held by Devon & Cornwall Constabulary or when or where these were installed, TSRGD, Direction 37(2)(d) & (e) requires that they are removed after 6 months from the date of the new speed limit, again Devon & Cornwall Constabulary have no record of when these were removed. They are no longer in place.

Devon & Cornwall Constabulary have no record of how many ‘Speed Camera’ advisory signs are in place.

  1. The new Government Minister, Mr Pickles, has explained that they are dedicated to see transparency of data, and thus in regards to the section of A3022 subject to the speed reduction, what was the 95 percentile speed prior to the reduction, and when measured subsequently? What were the Killed/Seriously Injured figures prior to the reduction, and quarterly KSI figures subsequent to the reduction? How many motorists, in each direction, have been caught speeding, on a monthly basis, subsequent to the limit being reduced?

Please also note that I wish to amend my references to "95 percentile" speed data with "85 percentile"speed data, as I believe that is the statistic that would have been assessed before and after implementation.

The 85th%ile data is taken as an average over the 24 hour period for each date shown at each location.

Site 8880 ~ Lamp post 48 (Go carts)
Date / Southbound to Brixham / Northbound to Paignton / Date / Southbound to Brixham / Northbound to Paignton
28.05.09 / 39.9 / 40.3 / 02.11.10 / 37.8 / 39.4
29.05.09 / 40.1 / 40.4 / 03.11.10 / 37.7 / 38.4
30.05.09 / 40.4 / 40.8 / 04.11.10 / 39.0 / 40.4
31.05.09 / 40.1 / 41.6 / 05.11.10 / 38.5 / 40.5
01.06.09 / 40.5 / 40.7 / 06.11.10 / 39.3 / 41.5
02.06.09 / 40.3 / 40.6 / 07.11.10 / 40.0 / 42.5
03.06.09 / 40.0 / 40.3 / 08.11.10 / 38.8 / 40.6
04.06.09 / 39.9 / 39.7 / 09.11.10 / 39.0 / 39.9
05.06.09 / 39.8 / 39.4
06.06.09 / 40.5 / 40.6
07.06.09 / 40.9 / 40.8
08.06.09 / 39.7 / 39.9
Site 8881 ~ Lamp post 147 (Golf Club)
Date / Southbound to Brixham / Northbound to Paignton / Date / Southbound to Brixham / Northbound to Paignton
28.05.09 / 34.2 / 38.3 / 02.11.10 / 35.1 / 34.3
29.05.09 / 34.2 / 38.6 / 03.11.10 / 35.0 / 33.9
30.05.09 / 34.8 / 39.5 / 04.11.10 / 35.0 / 34.6
31.05.09 / 35.1 / 40.0 / 05.11.10 / 34.6 / 34.3
01.06.09 / 34.4 / 39.0 / 06.11.10 / 35.7 / 35.2
02.06.09 / 34.5 / 39.0 / 07.11.10 / 35.7 / 35.0
03.06.09 / 32.6 / 36.1 / 08.11.10 / 35.1 / 34.7
04.06.09 / 32.5 / 35.8 / 09.11.10 / 34.2 / 33.6
05.06.09 / 33.5 / 37.7
06.06.09 / 35.0 / 39.9
07.06.09 / 34.9 / 39.9
08.06.09 / 34.0 / 38.9
Site 8882 ~ Lamp post 134 (War Memorial)
Date / Southbound to Brixham / Northbound to Paignton / Date / Southbound to Brixham / Northbound to Paignton
28.05.09 / 38.3 / 38.7 / 02.11.10 / 34.8 / 36.9
29.05.09 / 38.5 / 39.0 / 03.11.10 / 34.7 / 36.5
30.05.09 / 38.9 / 39.4 / 04.11.10 / 34.9 / 36.8
31.05.09 / 38.9 / 39.3 / 05.11.10 / 34.8 / 36.3
01.06.09 / 37.1 / 37.4 / 06.11.10 / 35.9 / 38.8
02.06.09 / 36.3 / 37.6 / 07.11.10 / 36.8 / 39.5
03.06.09 / 36.2 / 36.7 / 08.11.10 / 35.2 / 36.4
04.06.09 / 37.1 / 38.1 / 09.11.10 / 33.9 / 35.8
05.06.09 / 37.4 / 38.5
06.06.09 / 38.5 / 39.8
07.06.09 / 39.4 / 40.0
08.06.09 / 38.0 / 38.8

Data requested for A3022 Brixham to Dartmouth Road between Windy Corner and East and West Lodge.

Note: Devon & Cornwall does not record sections of road or directions of travel from our sources of speeding data, so we cannot provide an answer to ‘How many motorists, in each direction, have been caught speeding, on a monthly basis, subsequent to the limit being reduced?’

Data Source

  • Original data taken from the Forces Road Traffic Collision Recording System (Accsmap)

Data Processing

  • Saved collision data for the period merged and imported into Force Geographical Information System (Blue8 XD Universe)
  • Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs) on specified road identified. Data exported.
  • Damage only RTCs are excluded.

The below table shows the number of KSI (Killed and Seriously Injured) and slight injury RTCs on the specified section of the A3022 from 1st April 2007 to 23rd August 2009 by financial year, quarter and RTC type.

1 April 2007 – 23 August 2009
2007/08 / 2008/09 / 2009/10
Apr-Jun / Fatal / 1 / 0 / 0
Serious Injury / 0 / 0 / 0
Total KSI / 1 / 0 / 0
Slight Injury / 0 / 2 / 2
Jul-Sep / Fatal / 1 / 0 / 0
Serious Injury / 1 / 0 / 0
Total KSI / 2 / 0 / 0
Slight Injury / 1 / 1 / 0
Oct-Dec / Fatal / 0 / 0
Serious Injury / 0 / 0
Total KSI / 0 / 0
Slight Injury / 0 / 0
Jan-Mar / Fatal / 0 / 0
Serious Injury / 0 / 1
Total KSI / 0 / 1
Slight Injury / 0 / 1

The below table shows the number of KSI (Killed and Seriously Injured) and slight injury RTCs on the specified section of the A3022 from 24th August 2009 to 31st January 2011 by financial year, quarter and RTC type.

24 August 2009 – 31 January 2011
2009/10 / 2010/11
Apr-Jun / Fatal / 0
Serious Injury / 0
Total KSI / 0
Slight Injury / 2
Jul-Sep / Fatal / 0
Serious Injury / 0
Total KSI / 0
Slight Injury / 0
Oct-Dec / Fatal / 0 / 0
Serious Injury / 0 / 0
Total KSI / 0 / 0
Slight Injury / 2 / 0
Jan-Mar / Fatal / 0 / 0
Serious Injury / 0 / 0
Total KSI / 0 / 0
Slight Injury / 0 / 0

The below map shows the all RTCs, including damage only, on the specified section of the A3022 from 1st April 2007 to 31st January 2011

  1. Please advise if the A3022 speed reduction has been legally approved by a Traffic Regulatory Order, the date the TRO came into effect, the description of the roads covered by the TRO, and where a copy of the TRO is held for inspection.

The speed reduction has been legally approved and is now a formal Traffic Regulation Order which can be sited as the Borough of Torbay (A3022 Brixham/Dartmouth Road, Churston)(30mph Speed Limit Restriction) Order 2009, it came into force on the 24th August 2009. The description of the roads covered by the order are listed in Schedule I (Revocation Part) and Schedule II (30mph Speed Limit Restriction), Schedule II states:

A3022 Dartmouth Road/Brixham Road

That length of the A3022 known as Dartmouth Road, Churston which extends in a southerly direction from a point 166 metres south of its junction with Langdon Lane, Galmpton to a point 40 metres south-east of its junction with the A379, at the said junction the A3022 becomes known as Brixham Road.

A3022 Brixham Road

That length of the A3022 Brixham Road which extends from a point 40 metres south-east of its junction with the A379 south-eastwards to a point 85 metres south-east of its junction with the entrance to East and West Lodge.

A copy of the TRO will be available from Torbay Council. I have provided a link to the relevant page of the Torbay Council website that gives details on how to submit an FOI Request to that Authority:

http://www.torbay.gov.uk/content/index/advice-benefits/accesstoinformation/freedomofinformation.htm