It’s 30mph for a reason

A recent joke by pranksters in Bradford has left motorists and road authorities very angry, and could have lead to a serious accident.

A fake 40mph sign was put in a 30mph zone, just before a speed camera, so, some unfortunate motorists, thinking that they were entering a 40 zone, sped up and were caught by the machine.

The fake sign was quickly removed.

The pranksters have been labelled by highway chiefs and a member of the Bradford Council as irresponsible, and the joke itself dangerous.

One HGV driver, a resident in the area, commented, “Some evenings it's been like a strobe disco light. There have obviously been a lot of people who have been caught by it.

“Whoever has placed the sign there, it's a stupid thing to do. It costs time and effort for all those involved in the fines process.”

A spokesman for the Council stated, “Whoever put it up may think it was just a practical joke but it is actually crassly irresponsible.

“We lowered the limit to 30mph on Woodside Road because there had been 157 casualties on the A641 over three years. Encouraging people to drive faster than the speed limit may put lives at risk.”

Sadly, some people don’t think about the potential consequences of their actions – if they did there would probably be a greatly reduced number of accidents around the world.

Image by bicameral via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Labels: accident, driver, highway, motorists, speed camera