HIGHWAY regulations governing traffic

calming measures have been compared to an absurd Monty Python sketch by a parish councillor.

But despite the funny side, Councillor Christine Hill thinks the contradictory

regulations could also lead to more road

accidents.

This week Bradford Council highway

contractors have been putting up signs

and installing traffic calming measures on the dangerous Moor Road in Burley Woodhead.

The work, to slow down traffic, will involve installing road humps and setting up a 20mph zone.

But Coun Hill was flabbergasted when she looked closely at one of the signs by the side of the road.

The speed restriction sign has a number 20 surrounded by a red circle but underneath has another message saying '20 zone ends'. The 20mph zone does not end there but carries on through the village.

"It is the most dangerous thing I have seen - you can't blame motorists for speeding up there," said Coun Hill.

She said that the sign was in an area leading up to one of the most dangerous sections of the narrow road where locals regularly find wing mirrors which have been knocked off by other vehicles.

But when Coun Hill contacted Bradford Council for an explanation she was told by

highway officers that the sign was not

contradictory.

She said she was told that the lower part of the sign saying '20 zone ends' meant that the zone which will have road humps in has

come to an end, not the 20mph area has come to an end.

Highway officials said they had to follow

government regulations when putting up road signs in traffic calmed areas.

Coun Hill said: "It is a nonsense. I have never heard of the difference between a zone and an area. It is like Monty Python's Flying Circus. Although there is a funny side we could be talking about someone's life."

Coun Hill said that anyone looking at the sign could be forgiven for thinking that the 20mph restrict had ended. Drivers frustrated at having to go so slow up to that point could be

tempted to put their foot down right at the

point where the road becomes even more dangerous.

A Bradford Council highways spokesperson said: "Part of Moor Road - approaching Burley Woodhead from Ilkley - is a speed hump zone with a 20mph limit. Highway regulations state we have to put a sign at the end of it to mark the end of the zone.

"The next section of the road has a 20mph limit and therefore it is technically correct to have another sign.

"We agree that these two sets of signs may be confusing to motorists and are currently seeking permission from the Highways Agency to remove the 20mph symbol from the 'zone ends' sign."

l As the Gazette went to press yesterday a Bradford Council spokeswoman said that the Highways Agency had agreed to let highway workers remove the confusing part of the sign and it should now have been removed.