Mum welcomes change as 20mph zone to be extended

The 20mph speed limit in St Peter's village is going to be extended, with a Jersey mother welcoming the change - saying she was scared for her children's lives while crossing the road.

St Peter's Constable Richard Vibert said the end of the 20mph zone on La Grande Route de St Pierre would be moved to beyond the Marks and Spencer.

He said the change had been agreed after a traffic review and would be introduced "in the next few months".

Jenna Weber welcomed the change after her "really scary" experience but said authorities needed to do more to make the area safe.

Ms Weber and her family live on La Grande Route de St Pierre near where the speed limit changes from 20mph to 30mph.

She said she was crossing the road to get to M&S when a large vehicle came speeding around the corner before braking just metres away from her and her children.

She said: "Being in the middle of the road, already there wasn't much I could do, so I just frantically tried to make sure that everyone was safe and put myself in between the children and the vehicle."

She said this was not an isolated incident and other residents had had similar experiences.

"It is a family village and people should feel like they can use the amenities and be able to walk through the village and not be scared," she said.

Ms Weber said there had been times when she had driven less than 100m because she was too frightened to cross the road with her children.

She said the extension of the 20mph zone was "something" but added greater traffic calming measures should be considered, such as speed humps, zebra crossings and give way areas.

She said people did not obey the current speed limit, which made it an "unsafe situation".

"I don't want it to take for something to happen with a child walking to school or a villager walking to the shops for something to be considered and put in place," she said.

She said further traffic controls were particularly important because of plans to build nearly 130 more homes in the parish.

In response to Ms Weber's concerns, the infrastructure department said it could not add a pedestrian crossing because the existing right turn for traffic into the retail and business area needed to be "retained in its current format".

It said: "It caters for a significant number of right-turning vehicles throughout the day.

"Provision of any crossing would cause the right-hand turn lane to be too small for traffic."

It also said it could not add more pavement to the road because it was too narrow.

Vibert said he was just as concerned as residents by traffic issues in St Peter's village.

He said he had spoken with successive infrastructure ministers about traffic controls but had only recently had "a little bit of success".

He said the extension of the 20mph zone should happen relatively quickly as the infrastructure minister had plans to implement it using a ministerial decision.

He said traffic engineers were also looking at controls for the roads next to the proposed housing development and there were plans for pedestrian crossings nearby, however not near the M&S.

He said the infrastructure department needed to do some "more hard work" on creating safe areas for people to cross the main road.

Kate Huntington, who runs the Better Journeys initiative in Jersey, which encourages people to leave their cars at home and find other ways to work or school, said that when she began cycling regularly, or walking along some island roads, she found it dangerous and scary.

"I had so many near misses," she said.

She added motorists needed to understand that vulnerable road users had a right to be there, and pedestrians and cyclists also needed to take up space.

She said dropping speed limits across the island could also make pedestrians and cyclists feel safer.

She said: "We shouldn't have areas where it's not safe to leave your house unless you are in a car, that's not right, that's not the right way to live.

"Because they aren't going anywhere but they don't need to dominate our infrastructure."

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