THE section of Leeds Parade south of Bunnings will have its speed lowered from 80km/h to 70km/h after a car ended up in a paddock, but debate continues on the ideal limit for the remainder of the road.
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Herb Sullivan wrote to the City of Orange Traffic Committee in February after a car travelling northbound one night ran off the road before the guardrail, across the footpath and through a fence into a paddock full of sheep.
"Fortunately none of the sheep in the paddock were injured and did not escape before the fences were repaired," the letter said.
A week later, a car ended up in an embankment further up the road after losing control on the Northern Distributor Road roundabout. The cars in both incidents needed to be towed away.
Mr Sullivan asked for the guardrail to be extended and the speed limit lowered.
The committee decided to leave the guardrail as it was, but agreed to cut the speed.
MAP: The speed change location...
Mr Sullivan's daughter, Paula Townsend, said the family had written to the committee several times and the outcome would bring peace of mind.
"I was hoping for 60km/h, but that's fantastic news. There's no reason to be going at 80km/h there," she said.
Mrs Townsend said it was lucky no stock was hurt, considering the car hit a shrub the sheep often slept under.
"It was in the middle of the night so no one was walking there, thank God. If it had've been during the day, it would have been disaster," she said.
"My dad's 91, he couldn't [repair] it, he had to get a fencer to do it."
The change will add an extra speed zone to Leeds Parade as it will still become 80km/h north of the the NDR roundabout.
But Mrs Townsend said it would make the section consistent with the westbound speed on the NDR - eastbound, it becomes 80km/h.
"It's getting busier and busier every day and people tend to overtake [at the bend where the guardrail is] when they shouldn't," she said.
"I was coming back from Woolies one day, I was going about 60km/h and a vehicle was coming up, ready to overtake, so we were on the same side."
The decision followed debate among councillors last month regarding the mobile speed camera often parked outside Orange Showground on weekends.
Councillor Glenn Taylor wanted the stretch between the Dalton Street and NDR roundabouts to be 80km/h.
Meanwhile fellow councillor, and traffic committee chair, Russell Turner told the meeting he supported a drop to 60km/h.
On Friday, Cr Turner said he remained of that view, saying the change from 80km/h to 70km/h alone would not make much of a difference.
"Fifty past the showground is unrealistic and very few people find it easy to stay at 50km/h," he said.
"There's only one home, I think, until you get to Discovery Hill so it could be quite safe at 60km/h."
Mrs Townsend agreed with the existing 50km/h zone, saying it was in town.
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