Hurrah! Transport Scotland staggers into the 21st Century by deciding to place its consultations on the pilot 20mph speed limit areas online – including on the A7 in Langholm.
As you’ll see from the diagram, this is not a scheme to frighten the horses, or cause much inconvenience to the motorist, the new speed limit being just 325 metres long. It’s also confined to the A7 itself, leaving Langholm in the peculiar position where you will be able to drive faster down residential back streets than a major trunk route.
That said, we will be supporting this proposal as the start of what we hope will be a wider effort to slow traffic in Scotland’s towns, villages and cities. We particularly hope that Transport Scotland and Dumfries and Galloway council can work in partnership to introduce complete 20mph zones, including trunk roads, rather than the current piecemeal approach
We have responded to the consultation as follows:
We would like to write in support of the proposal to pilot a 20mph limit on the A7 through Langholm. Although the scheme at present is extremely limited, we hope that it will act as a precursor to a wider 20mph limit throughout the town. At the moment, the very limited application risks drivers getting confused about where the lower speed limit applies, and possibly attempting to bypass the 20mph area altogether.We also hope that if successful the proposal will be more widely applied, for instance in Crocketford and Springholm, where communities are significantly blighted by heavy traffic on the A75.We would encourage Transport Scotland to try and work in partnership with Dumfries and Galloway council to introduce a complete 20mph plan for Langholm (and other areas), rather than dealing with trunk roads and local authority roads in isolation, which would save money and also be more effective in controlling speeds overall
We look forward to seeing the pilot plan implemented, and hearing the results of the evaluation
Cycling Dumfries 