THE 40mph speed limit on Dartmoor has failed to stop the slaughter of sheep and ponies and should be abandoned, claims the Dartmoor Society.
Since April 1999 the society has been gathering monthly statistics from a few of the Dartmoor graziers about the number of animals killed and injured on 15 miles of unfenced moorland roads where there is a 40mph speed limit.
The most recent figures from April 2001 to March 2002 show 21 sheep and 11 ponies from Peek Hill Farm alone were killed along the four-mile moorland stretch of the Yelverton-Princetown road.
A spokesman said the trauma of such incidents to both humans and animals could only be imagined.
'The speed limit, imposed at considerable expense and with the primary purpose of reducing animal accidents on open moorland roads has, as we and others predicted, failed to make an impact on the number of casualties,' he said.
The society is urging that the speed limit in its present form — which affects 90 miles of Dartmoor roads — 'should be scrapped and the money saved on its maintenance should be spent on making drivers aware of the hazards on some 15 miles of open moorland where animals are genuinely at risk'.
Dr Tom Greeves, chairman of The Dartmoor Society, said: 'We call on the Environment Director of Devon County Council and all reasonable members of the Dartmoor National Park Authority to admit that the 40mph speed limit has signally failed to reduce animal accidents.
'It is well-known that speed is almost irrelevant regarding accidents involving animals on Dartmoor, as the incidents often occur in poor weather conditions or at night. Rather than slower driving, the need is for careful driving adapted to particular Dartmoor conditions and weather,' Dr Greeves said.
The society believed much more effort should be put into warnng signs at the particular locations where accidents are know to happen, with information in major car parks, perhaps including statistics about accidents, he added.
Bill Cann, chairman of Dartmoor National Park Authority and Devon County Council's representative on that body, said that, being 'a very reasonable' chairman, he thought the speed limit was doing what it was intended to do.
'It is slowing people down. If you hit an animal at 40mph you will do less damage than if you hit it at 60mph,' he said, adding that he appreciated that some people did not like being told to slow down.
Justine Colton, who farms Peek Hill Farm at Dousland with husband Dave, said of Mr Cann's comment on the amount of damage inflicted at 40mph: 'What difference does it make — the animal will still be dead'.
Mrs Colton said she did not think the limit should be abolished, but people did not take any notice of it and she had not seen any evidence of it being enforced. 'It's not the tourists that are the problem — they dawdle along. It is local people,' she stressed.
So far this year only two people have reported collisions with animals — the remaining motorists have left them to die, she said. 'We don't prosecute; we'd just be happy to know someone has reported it and the animal has been dealt with.'
'We need some sort of fencing,' Mrs Colton added. In addition to lessening the loss of animals, it would also be needed as a break and to keep animals in one area if foot and mouth were to return to the moors, she claimed.
'We'd like people to enjoy the moors, but we'd like the animals to be able to enjoy it as well,' she said.