Campaigners in 40mph limit call

Campaigners believe a blanket 40mph limit will cut road deaths

Road safety campaigners are pushing for a 40mph maximum speed limit on the Isle of Wight.

The move would follow in the footsteps of Jersey, which imposed the same limit more than 40 years ago.

Road campaigners point to the 12 deaths on Isle of Wight roads last year compared with just one on Jersey.

Councillor Tim Hunter-Henderson said he was cautious over the plan but added a complete review of all speed limits is to be carried out by 2011.

The Isle of Wight Council member for transport, said: "Any ideas or proposals on even a blanket limit will be gratefully received.

We can definitely say it works very well here Philip Blake, Jersey police road safety officer

"I think on the island it is a bit different to Jersey, their roads are much narrower and they have a denser population so it is much more congested.

"Here we have a variety of different types of roads and locations.

"Most accidents are due to driver error and speed is only one factor."

The councillor added that he still believed limits above 40mph could be appropriate on certain roads.

Kevin Jenkins has set up Campaign 440 and is pushing for the change.

He said: "I believe that it would save two to three lives per year on average.

"It would mean a saving to the NHS and the saving of human tragedy."

'Fewer crashes'

A review of the speed limit on Jersey was carried out in 2003 with many people calling for it to be lowered to 30mph, but it remains unchanged.

Philip Blake, road safety officer with Jersey police, said: "We can definitely say it works very well here.

"From our lesson the more we can keep the speeds down the fewer crashes we have.

"One of the reasons we stayed at what we've got is when we looked at the figures of deaths or injuries they were coming down so evidence showed what we're doing is quite good."