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Motor Speed at Colwyn Bay.

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Motor Speed at Colwyn Bay. PROPOSED TEN-MILE LIMIT. CHIEF CONSTABLE'S RIGHT ABOUT FACE." Mr R. C. Maxwell (barrister-at-law), on behalf of the Local Government B°^> ^"Colwyn BX^n^aturday,"respecting lhI 'application made by the D€^hshvre trict Council) for an order limiting the speed C< motor-cars to ten miles an hour m c tain parts of the district. Uphalf of M, Tames Porter appeared on behaii 01 the County and Urban Councils m sruppor of the application, which wasopposed^ vfr Deane representing the Royal An £ bi £ cS, Si Mr. L^ood, for the Motor UThe"first order asked for was in re^t of the section of the mam toria-park to the i^onq^fh road, and the second was ^fr0m the piece of main road at Colwyn from Llanelian-road to the Ship Hotel. Amongst <ho*> prejnt C«* STlSSid'! Lewis Council £ £ JSDr^ Council, Mi B Adams (County Surveyor) Petit, Colonel Sandbsch, and Nunn. SUGGESTED COMPROMISE. Mr Deane at the outset asked whether Mr Porter pressed for the whole of the ap- o icafi?n asTXd, or whether Utey mujte C," question of comprom.se wrth a view to shortening tne proceedings.^ Mr. Porter replied thai: it^ depen ihe. bait which Mr. Deane was \> ♦ if -fViat bait was sufficient There would be no undue protraction of the concerned.. ,wided concerned.. ,wided After further discussion, it was decmea to proceed with the application in its origi al form. THE DISTRICT COUNCIL'S POSITION. Mr Porter, in the course of his address, pointed out that the application ^s reaUy made bv the District Council, and had not been ha'stily conceived. Itwas not a mat- ter of a mbment. It had received the anxious and businesslike consideration the District Council for a number of years. And it was only after they had given the matter due consideration, and after they had had experience of the traffic of various sorts coming into the district, such as the trams which ran along the main road, the increased motor traffic and the increased 'visiting population, that they decided to ask the Local Government Board to entrust them with further powers. The Council had already been empowered by their pri- vate Act of Parliament to impose a speed limit on the sea-front, and had done so, and the working of that order had been emi- nently successful. The Council were therefore in a better position than most P- I Councils to speak on the subject ot speea limits. In regard to the opposition, they all knew the usual nosition taken up by the two clubs. Mr. Deane There is not very much op- position, so far as I know. Mr. Porter said the clubs in question no doubt had a considerable amount of author- ity and experience, and were no doubt quite right in regarding th-) matter from their own point of view. But in that district they had a large residential population and a very large visiting population, and his con- p tention was that the members of the Local Authority, who represented every shade of opinion in the district, motorists and n-m- motorists, were in a far better position to say to the Local Government Board what was the right thing to do in the infeietfs of the residential and visiting pOpD a" i than either of the two gentlemen represent- ing the motor clubs. Mr. Porter next read the letter of Mr. Nunn, in opposition to the application, which appeared in the current issue of the North Wales Weekly News," and denied that such an order would seriously affect the interests of North Wales and Colwyn Bay." Mr. Nunn had no monopoly of the interests of Colwyn Bay The considerable body of men on the District Council were quite as well able to represent the interests of Colwyn Bay as any individual who arro- gated to himfplf that monopoly. The letter said that motorists would avoid us and go elsewhere." Well, said Mr. Porter, if we are to provide roads merely for motor- ists who are passing through and who wish to go at an extreme rate—and that is the case put by Mr. Nunn-they are very wel- come to go anywhere else and fly through." A ten miles limit was described in the let- ter as irritating." All that was asked for I was an order in respect of a piece of road one miie five furlongs in length, and that over such a short length the legal speed should be ten miles instead of twenty miles an hour. That meant that the time occu- pied in traversing that short length would be doubled. In other words, there would be a tax of three minutes in a mile on a motorist. Even if they took the distance as two miles it would mean a delay of only six minutes. He did not see why that should prove irritating to any motorist. Mr. Wm. Jones,. C.E., District Surveyor for the past 21 years ,said that the Con- way-road section was i mile and 2 furlongs, and the Colwyn section was 3 furlongs. There were 22 side-roads branching off the first length on the southerly side, and 21 side-roads off the northerly side, whilst at Colwyn there were seven on one side and six on the other. The total length of the main road in the district was 41 miles. The traffic on the Colwyn Bay part was very great, particularly in the summer. Within that length the tramway was seven feet wide, and there were three loops, one being near the elementary school. The average width of the road there was from 24 feet to 28 feet, and this road was fronted by the Mews, from which coaches and carriages were frequently turned out. Nearly all the 'business premises were situated on thait road, and there were shops on both sides. From the top of Station-road to Rhiw-road the main road was very narrow; opposite the Public Hall it was 20 feet. The Light Railway Company had obtained powers to extend the tramway from Rhiw-road to Old Colwyn, and at the present time the Rail- way Comnanv ran motor-buses along that route. The hill going from Groes Bridge was very steep, and at the top there was a sharp and awkward turning, so that traffic could not be seen. Mr. Deane said that he was not averse to a speed limit at Old Colwyn. At the top of Station-road, Colwyn Bay, it was necessary for a policeman to regulate the traffic. Evidence in support was given by Mr. R. B. Adams (County Surveyor) and Coun- cillor Edward Allen (Chairman of the High- ways Committee of the District Council). iQHIEF CONSTABLE CHANGES HIS MIND. Major Lcadbetter (Chief Constable for Denbighshire) was called by Mr. Porter. He said that he was not in favour of speed limits, as no one could say whether a car was travelling at 9 miles of 11 miles an hour, and he was also understood to refer to the absence of a prescribed race track" and of a trap." The scheduled area, he ss.id later, should be as short as possible. He admitted that three years ago he sub- mitted to the County Council a report sitrongly xecommending a speed limit for the whole of the main road inthe Colwyn Bay urban district. As many as 1,150 cars passed through daily (not counting the same cars twice) and the report advocated the st-w ed limit in the interests of public safety. Since litre; vears ago there had been a. great I impiovemen* in the xvav in which motorists 1 used th* roads, and the existing law against 1 to the common danger was bet- 1 ter than a speed-limit. Perhaps a speed- 1 limit notice on a road did deter a good 1 mot ovist from travelling at an excessive t speed. By Mr. Deane He had not carefully ex- amined the scheduled length, but was giving a generai opinion. By Mr. Porter: There was a policeman stationed at the top of Station-road, and that part should certainly be scheduled. Mr. J. O. Davies (headmaster of the Council School), Councillor T. E. Purdy, Ir. Thomas Buckley (dentist-surgeon, Con- way-road), and Mr. Benjamin Hoyle (artist, Victoria House, Conway-road) supported, and gave accounts of accidents and nar- row escapes experienced by school childr n. Mr. Hoyle mentioned a case of two boys who were playing football on the road, and one of them was nearly run down 1 y a motor. Mr. John W. Smith, Inspector 1he Promenade and of hackney carriages, spoke of the great improvement which had re- sulted from the action of the Council in limiting the speed along the front to eight miles an hour. Other witnesses called were Mr. Thomas Jones, grocer, Chester House, Abergele- road, and Mr. Robert Jones, grocer, Old Colwyn, and Mr. Porter intimated that if necessary he could call a considerable body of evidence in support. THE OPPOSITION. Mr. Deane spoke at great length in op- position, and submitted that according to the law the members of the District Coun- cil were not the best judges in such mat- ters. He described the application as the most colossal piece of impudence it was possible to imagine. It was an exploded theory that because there was a school on a roadside there must necessarily be a speed limit. The effect of Mr. Hoyle's evidence was that there must be a speed-limit to en- able schoolboys to play football on the pub- lic highway—a practice which was illegal. Mr. Jelf-Petit, J.P. (Chairman of the North Wales Automobile Club and a mem- ber of the Denbighshire Police Committee, objected to a ten miles speed-limit as being unnecessary and useless for the purpose in view, and said that the order, if one were made, should apply only to the length be- tween Hawarden-road and Rhiw-road. Col. Sandbach, J.P., a member of the Automobile Club and also of the Denbigh- shire Police Committee, gave similar evi- dence, and so did Dr. Fox, of Bettwsycoed, the Secretary of the North Wales Aumto- mobile Club. Mr. Elgood addressed the Inspector in opposition, and commented on the fact that no local police officer had been called on behalf of the application. Mr. Porter, in his reply, said that Mr. Elgood had let the cat out of the bag as to the real nature of the objection. The first point was that there was no evidence as to an accident having taken place, which was tantamount to saying that a property-owner must not insure his house against fire until it had been burnt down. The second was that the speed-limit was disliked because it would be an inconvenience to the motor- ing public." That was not very much of an argument.

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