CPRE Oxfordshire seeks to promote tranquillity and reduce clutter on rural roads. We believe that all proposals for signage, calming and promoting tranquillity need to:

• be carefully assessed against the local environment
• take careful account of local residents views.

There is inevitably a trade-off between traffic calming and signage but we believe that careful design and implementation of local environmentally sensitive designs can lead to cost-effective solutions that do not involve excessive signage and street furniture.

Latest News:

June 2009

Countryside at a Crossroads - A blanket speed limit or a million new speed signs?

Tens of thousands of new speed limit signs could be put up on England's rural roads, according to recent analysis by CPRE National Office.

The Government is encouraging local authorities to decide whether single carriageway rural A and B roads could benefit from having a 50mph speed limit rather than a 60mph one.

CPRE says the move could result in tens of thousands of new speed limit signs being installed on thousands of kilometres of England's roads.

Ralph Smyth, senior transport campaigner at CPRE, said: “After deciding against a blanket 50mph national speed limit, the Government wants to encourage local authorities to consider introducing lower speed limits locally, which require repeater signs about every 300 yards. But it has not thought through the national costs and implications. Its piecemeal plans could require a million repeater speed limit signs that would deface the countryside and distract drivers while costing £300 million.”

The Department for Transport (DFT) says research has shown that the risk of the driver dying in a head-on collision involving two cars travelling at 60mph is about 90 per cent. DFT says this drops to 65 per cent at 50mph.

A DFT spokesman said: “We want local authorities to look at their most dangerous single carriageway rural A and B roads because they are overrepresented in serious accidents. We want them to look at those roads and to decide whether they could benefit from having a 50mph speed limit rather than a 60mph speed limit, because it will save lives.”

The proposals are set out in the DFT’s consultation 'A Safer Way: Consultation on Making Britain’s Roads the Safest in the World', published in April 2009, and which is open until July 2009.

• See: CPRE National Office Press Release (24 June).
• See CPRE's: ‘A million new speed limit signs? Implications by local authority’ (pdf).

What you can do.

Help improve the safety of England’s rural roads.

The Government wants people’s views on how to make Britain’s rural roads the safest in the world.

Between 2006-2007, there were 248,000 casualties on Britain’s roads. Many more people are too scared to walk or cycle on our rural roads at all. This has to change.

Lower speed limits and a reduction in the clutter of signs and lines are proven ways of reducing danger on the roads. CPRE wants to see these implemented so people can really feel safe, both as drivers and as pedestrians, horse riders and cyclists.

CPRE has made this easy for you by creating an online letter which you can easily edit.

Further Information:

• Quiet Lanes
• Roadside advertising
• Roadside clutter
• Proposed Marcham Bypass
• Light Pollution
• Reduce food miles: local foods