NO Thank You

I am posting this to object to the proposed reduction of the speed limit from 30mph to 20mph across Moray. While I support sensible safety measures where there is clear evidence of risk - near schools or accident blackspots - this blanket reduction appears to be a costly, disruptive, and largely symbolic exercise that offers little measurable benefit.

1. Where's the problem? Before changing every sign in Moray, I'd like to see evidence that the 30mph limits are actually causing harm. How many accidents, injuries or fatalities have occurred in the villages this year that can be directly linked to speed within the existing 30mph limit? If the answer is "none" or "very few", then why the need for sweeping change?
2. The cost - in money and materials. Let's be honest: rebadging hundreds of signs, repainting road markings, issuing new maps and publicising new limits will not come cheap. In a time when council budgets are already stretched, surely this money would be better spent fixing potholes, resurfacing roads, or improving the pavements where people actually walk. And while we're talking about the planet - what exactly happens to all the "redundant" 30mph signs? Are they recycled, scrapped, or stored in a depot somewhere? Because if the council is serious about environmental responsibility, ripping our perfectly serviceable signage just to replace it with new 'test' ones feels rather wasteful and contradictory.
3. Token measures aren't real safety improvements. Changing a sign doesn't change behaviour. Drivers already slow down where common sense dictates - near schools, tight bends, and busy junctions. Outside these areas, a 20 mph blanket rule will do little except create more emissions, frustrate drivers and increase journey times, from delivery vans to carers on call.
4. A call for proportion and proof. I'm not against safety. I'm against bureaucracy for its own sake. If the Council can produce solid, recent data showing that specific roads in this area are genuinely dangerous because they are 30mph, then by all means, reduce those sections. But a universal cut-and-paste policy applied to every village street, regardless of local conditions, is neither logical nor fair.
5. Please, let's not waste time or money. In short: this proposal is expensive, environmentally tone-deaf, and lacks convincing evidence of need. I urge the Council to reconsider, focus on areas with proven safety issues, and use resources where they'll make a visible difference - not on cosmetic changes that no one asked for.