After Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall said his department was looking at putting out a consultation on speeds around Ballakermeen High School, we asked the public how they felt about traffic speeds around the island.

Kelly Hearns, from Douglas, felt speeds should be limited around urban areas.

She said: ‘I think it’s a necessity, especially in places like Castletown or Ballakermeen. It’s quite a dangerous area to drive, there’s a lot of things you need to be cautious of, kids, hazards.

‘It’s hard to be driving over 20mph in those areas anyway, it just doesn’t make sense, I would drive that speed anyway, I can’t imagine why anyone would drive over that in those areas.’

When asked if she felt speed cameras would be beneficial, the 35-year-old added: ‘In my opinion, I don’t often see police out in force, I think there’s a lot of unrestricted areas on the Isle of Man, so I find that people tend to drive at high speeds anyway because they do it in places like the Mountain Road, they [think they] can do that on all island roads.

‘I think maybe it would be beneficial but I don’t know about the practicalities of doing that, there’s so many small roads on the Isle of Man, where would you strategically place them? If they’re strategically placed then people would learn where they are and people would slow down for them but are you actually catching the offenders?’

Gemma and Paul Middleton, of Kirk Michael, agreed that speed limits should be brought in for built-up areas.

Mrs Middleton, 38, said: ‘I think we should be bringing speed limits in, especially going through villages. It can be very dangerous when people are going to schools.

Mr Middleton, 37, added: ‘In the built-up areas, there’s no reason for anything to be beyond 20s or 30s, although I’m not in favour of these people who think the open straight roads need to be restricted down to 50, that’s unnecessary.’

Mrs Middleton explained that with their youngest son in primary school, the pair worry more about traffic speeds, saying: ‘The road outside his school is only at 20mph from 8:30am til 4pm, which is not a long time really – after school clubs go on until 5 or 6pm so it’s no good 20mph until 4pm, is it?’

Sam Turton, 27, felt that in many residential areas it’s difficult to get past 20mph anyway.

The man from Onchan said: ‘The stupid thing was they [put in a 20mph limit] on the prom where you can drive along at 30mph and it makes no difference.

‘In a lot of the towns it would make sense but you need the common sense to actually speak to the residents because that’s what’s come out from Ballakermeen, they’re not being listened to and it’s been going on for years.’

Justin Atkins, of Ballasalla, would be in favour of slower speed limits, especially around schools and built-up areas.

When asked if the implementation of speed cameras in the island could help, he said: ‘It’s quite a good deterrent when you’ve got these big yellow boxes that are there.

‘I have a child in a primary school in Ballasalla and there it’s 35mph on the main crossing next to the school. There’s little lights that come up that tell you your speed and people are constantly speeding there.

‘I’ve seen a few people, even though a kid is waiting to cross and there’s a traffic light, they will still push their luck a little bit and go through the lights just as they’re turning.’