Lancashire Police speed camera vans patrol new M55 link road

The £207 million road linking parts of Preston and the Fylde Coast to the M55 motorway opened on Monday (July 3) and speed camera vans were quickly deployed to monitor drivers.

The road – named after Edith Rigby in honour of Preston's most famous suffragette – has been built to help relieve congestion, especially access to the motorway at junctions one and three of the M55, and on routes through Preston.

But some drivers were disappointed to see the new road – a dual carriageway with a central reservation – restricted to 50mph instead of the national speed limit which is usually 70mph on dual carriageways.

Lancashire County Council and Lancashire Police were approached for comment.

You can watch as we take a drive down the new M55 link road in our video here.

What do our readers think?

We asked our readers what they thought of the 50mph speed limit and whether it should be increased.

We also asked whether you thought police speed camera vans should be deployed on the first day it opened.

This is what some of you told us…

Why only 50?

"I thought that the speed camera vans were only being used at high risk sites where there had been accidents?,” asked John Carruthers.

“The signage is completely inadequate,” said Chris Jones, “especially if you're not from the immediate area.”

Andy Edge said: "This is really annoying, coming of the motorway on to a dual carriageway and you automatically think it’s 70, then after a mile or so a 50 sign pops up.

"This was the first time I went on the road for curiosity, no speed camera but I would have been caught out as there was no sign for a mile a least."

Brian Butterworth had a similar experience. He said: “Just driven the new road for the first time today, coming from Blackpool Road towards the motorway. Pulling onto the new section, dual carriageway, no street lights, no signage, therefore 70 mph? No, circa 300metres into the road is a 50mph sign, certainly the first one I saw!”

"A good chunk of this new road system could easily be 70mph. Setting it at 50 for a reason me thinks,” added Lee Holding.

"Why would a virtually straight dual carriageway be 50mph!?,” asked Simon Gooch.

"Obviously didn’t want to miss out on a new revenue stream,” added Martin Catterall. “I wonder if the 50mph limit was set with this in mind?”

Andrew Lane had no doubts about what he thought, saying: "Absolutely about money grabbing. Carriageway with central reservation and fairly straight from what I've seen in a non-built up area was always 70 in the highway code for a car.

"But no, lets set it at 50 and catch people out. Absolutely no need to be 50. Let's make the motorist an easy target yet again.”

But others were happy for the speed limit to remain 50mph and believe the speed camera vans are simply doing their job – stopping speeding drivers and making the road safer.

If it’s 50, it’s 50 for a reason – slow down!

“If it's 50, it's 50. Nothing unfair about it. Doesn't matter if it's a new road or not,”said Sue Morcos.

"Absolutely,” said Ian Bass. “The law is the law. The road is NOT a race track.”

"Keep to the speed limits. Why is that so difficult?,” asked David Bingham.

“Absolutely fair if it’s sign posted as 50mph and it’s not a dual carriageway…if it isn’t sign posted then I’d contest it,” said Harley Neish.

"I was on it yesterday and noticed several signs saying 50, which is what I did,” said Nigel Jurgens, adding, “I had at least two people overtake me doing considerably more than that.”

"There's a sign at the end of the slip road that states it's 50mph, if you can't see that you shouldn't be driving”, said Peter Donely.

"If the speed is clearly posted on that road then nothing is wrong. It’s not a motorway, it’s a link road,” said Janys Wright.