THERE was cause for celebration among concerned Okehampton residents last week, after new measures to reduce speeding were introduced on one of the main routes into the town. An interactive 'SpeedVisor' sign has been placed near to the corner of Glendale Road, in a bid to slow down motorists travelling down Upcott Hill. The Highways Authority had received a number of complaints from residents in the area about the speed of traffic entering Okehampton. Joan Pauley, who lives on Vicarage Road, lobbied prospective parliamentary candidate, Mel Stride, about the speeding issue. Mr Stride, along with Okehampton deputy mayor Kay Bickley, of Upcott House, and Okehampton county councillor, Christine Marsh, urged Devon County Council to try and have stricter traffic calming measures enforced. Cllr Bickley said: 'Not all accidents that happen here are reported and at Upcott House we see, anecdotally, more and more accidents. I'm really pleased with the new sign and hope it will draw people's attention to the speed limit. 'It shows that it is worth making a fuss if there are traffic concerns.' Cllr Marsh added: 'We are hoping it will be placed in other areas where we have identified a problem like Crediton Road and High Street.' Bill Banting, technical officer for the Highways Authority, said the sign will only be in place for a short period of time as they were expensive and have to be rotated around to other communities. He said: 'The sign was placed there after complaints from local residents. It will be moved on after creating an impact, typically this impact lessens after two to three weeks. 'Having a sign in place will generally tend to reduce speed by three to four miles per hour. They are, however, expensive to provide permanently.' As motorists come down Upcott Hill the speed limit changes from 60mph to 30mph. To continue to help make Okehampton roads safer, the police will be carrying out an increased number of speed checks.
