It’s 30 for a reason – my house says so!

Nestling on the busy A3072 is Mr Tim Backhouse’s house. Nothing too out of the ordinary, except for its giant 30mph sign, plastered down its gable end for all to see. With way too many speeding cars, vans and Lorries, Tim decided to approach his local council to get them to help reduce the risk of his family and other locals being injured or worse.

The council carried out ‘average’ speed tests and said the average taken was just 31mph. Tim appealed this, saying this took in to account the busy times where vehicles only moved at a snail’s pace and as such, brought down the average. Tim argued the report should have resulted in having much lower average than 31mph but he was over ruled.  With not a speed bump, camera or controlled lane in sight throughout the narrow streets in his village of Bow, Devon, Tim, armed with paint, a brush and some specialised ladders set about making sure motorists would ever forget the limit again.

Tim, a self-employed artist and builder who lives with his wife Rachel, 36, and three children Rowan, 4, Faye, 7 and Oliver, 13, rendered his skills by spending five hours painting the sign – as tall as a double-decker bus – on to his end-of-terrace property.

Tim said: 'It isn't very nice to be sitting in your living room and to hear large lorries and cars speeding past. If drivers just stuck to the speed limit, Bow would be a much nicer place to live. My wife and I have only lived in the village for two years and I've got to admit we were apprehensive about how people would react, but everyone's been very supportive. The general feeling is that Bow has been forgotten about and something needs to be done. 'The road is littered with potholes and although the only shop is just outside the village there is no zebra crossing and after school there are lots of kids racing over there’.

Added: 08 December 2011

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