SIR,
The positioning of the Hereford Road mobile speed camera referred to in the Beacon (letters page, 24th February) makes interesting reading and raises another point about camera woes.
On the Redbrook Road, the mobile camera is usually sited on a grass verge near the Wyesham Road junction in full view of motorists. But by the time they get to glimpse it, many of them are already booked.
You see, motorists travelling from Monmouth find themselves driving around a left-hand corner, only to be snapped by the facing camera about a kilometre away the second they emerge from the bend.
But what speed should they be doing, many of them might ask, and have they broken the law?
The only speed restriction sign they may have seen is the one near the traffic lights at Wye Bridge – three quarters of a mile away.
After that, many motorists using the Redbrook Road – the main Wye Valley tourist route – may not see another 30mph sign until they reach Redbrook, a few miles away.
The point is that after Wye Bridge there are no speed restriction signs on the left hand side of the road.
There is however, 30mph signing recently repositioned on the opposite side of the road in the vicinity of the busy new Lidl store, but it only takes a queue of heavy traffic (common) or the sudden approach of a large lorry or van and the 30mph sign is unlikely to be seen.
Nor are there any 30mph red road markings.
You can study the Highway Code and consider what the legal implications of this situation might be, but that aside, it does seem only fair and reasonable that there should be proper signage so that motorists, many of them tourists, are fully aware of the road status.
(Name and address supplied)