The Department of Infrastructure’s planned roll-out of 20mph speed limits across the Isle of Man has divided public and political opinion.

Port St Mary recently became the first area to erect the 20mph signage, the first part of a phased scheme to be rolled out across all of the island’s towns and villages over the next two years.

Although I am only 23, I have lived in the small southern village for my entire life, and I certainly wouldn’t say that the speed of cars is an issue that our Government should be worried about.

If something isn’t broken, then you don’t need to fix it.

Although I can’t speak for other areas where the 20mph limit is set to be implemented in the upcoming months, the introduction of this in Port St Mary really does feel like a substantial waste of time and resources.

This is mainly down to one significant reason - the village is extremely small.

Not only is the village and its population small in general, but its roads are also fairly narrow.

Bay View Road, the main road down towards Port St Mary harbour, is inhabited by shops, restaurants and takeaways, which means that cars are regularly parked along that entire stretch.

This means that there are plenty of polite drivers having to give way, regardless of which direction they are travelling in.

I can assure you that anticipating when to give way to another vehicle, as well as the action of giving way itself, means that you will not be travelling faster than 20mph - regardless of what the DoI have decided the speed limit is.

As you continue down into the depths of the village, the issue of the roads being narrow still remains a problem.

If you have ever encountered a bus going either way through Primrose Terrace, you will know exactly what I am talking about.

I say all of this without even mentioning the current state of the majority of roads in Port St Mary, with potholes and rough surfaces being another reason why it isn’t particularly wise to travel at high speeds in general.

It is also worth noting that the 20mph zone goes all the way down Beach Road towards Gansey, which also doesn’t make much sense to me.

I live on an estate just off Beach Road and to get to Gansey, parked cars on the left again mean that you have to slow right down to give way to oncoming vehicles.

You can’t do this travelling at 30mph.

The size and scope of the area means that in 80% of the village, you are going considerably slower than you should be anyway - so what is the point in changing the speed limit?

You could say that having to travel at low speeds means that there’s no harm in lowering the speed limit, but when you consider that the entire roll-out is set to cost the Government £400,000, there is certainly harm in that money not being spent on more prevalent issues elsewhere.