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30mph limit 'not needed'

By Paul Barry
September 11, 2008

Speed limits on the way into Yateley are about to be cut – but one resident claims the reductions are not needed.

Limits on two stretches of Reading Road are being brought down to 30mph as part of a nationwide scheme called Village 30, which has been signed up to by Hampshire County Council and Yateley Town Council.

The 40mph section of road from Crosby Gardens to Hall Drive on the Eversley Cross side of town will be slowed down.

And in nearby Frogmore, the 40mph stretch from Frogmore Park Drive to Green Lane will also be cut to 30mph.

In a separate move by the county council, the speed limit on Reading Road going past Frogmore Community College will be cut from 60mph to 40mph.

Adrian Carey, who has lived in Moulsham Copse Lane for 27 years, told the Star the proposed changes had not been publicised well enough.

His home is just off the Reading Road on the west side of the town.

Mr Carey, 59, a freelance educational consultant, said he only just got his objections in before Tuesday’s deadline because the process for submitting comments had proved tortuous.

He said: “I didn’t know about this plan at all until a town council newsletter came through my door saying it was happening at long last thanks to hard work from local councillors.

“I gather it was in a previous town council newsletter, but I did not receive that particular one.

“I asked people down our lane if they knew about it and nobody did. It seemed like a done deal and it took a lot of digging around to find out who was proposing it and how to submit objections.”

Mr Carey claimed there was no need for a speed limit cut on the stretch of Reading Road near his home.

He said: “The speed limit here used to be 60mph so it has already been cut once.

“There is no problem here – it’s a straight road and there are beautiful sight lines so you can see people coming.

Now we will have to do 30mph even if there is no one else on the road.”

Mr Carey said he opposed the thinking behind the Village 30 plan, which is an attempt to get drivers to slow down automatically when entering built-up areas.

He said he had been knocked off his bicycle and off a motorcycle by car drivers and said neither accident was caused by excessive speed. He said: “This shows an unthinking adherence to the dogma that speed kills.

“Most accidents are not down to speed – they are down to bad driving.

“This is a really worrying indication of the way things are going in this country – it’s control freakery.

“What I would like to see instead is sensible driver education and more police on the roads.”

Hart Councillor Colin Ive said: “As the chairman of the Hart Road Safety Council I welcome the plans to lower the speed limits in many villages across Hampshire and am particularly pleased as a local councillor that significant roads in Yateley are included in these plans which have been in open discussion for some time now.

“Following the distribution of the Hart Road Safety magazine Hart Brake to all homes in Hart over the summer, I have personally had many comments back from people seriously concerned with the issue of speeding, most notably in Reading Road South Fleet, Elvetham Heath, Firgrove Road Yateley, Hawley Lane, Hawley and so on. The challenge for all drivers now is to comply with both these new and existing speed limits. I do understand that there are those who would like to scrap these new limits – this is a very small minority.”

No one from the county council was available for comment as the Star went to press.

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As a resident on the Reading Road in Blackwater for over 8 years (and an ex-Yateley resident for over 20 years), I have been witness to several accidents just outside my home. The 30 mph limit is certainly welcomed, but i fear the enforcing of it will be a long way down the list. I agree though that it was not publicised properly, and vehicles continue to travel at speeds of 40 mph and more.

So what next? Speed Cameras?

G Mathews, Reading Road, Blackwater
3/12/2008 at 07:16

30MPH LIMIT IS NEEDED

I read with interest Mr Carey’s objections to the pending 30mph speed limit in Yateley (from September 11th edition of the Star.)

As a resident of Moulsham Copse Lane, Mr Carey is living in one of the quietest roads in Yateley – a road that adjoins one of the busiest, the Reading Road. I live on the Reading Road and regularly see motorists, especially motorcyclists, travelling in excess of 60mph. They are no doubt taking advantage of the ‘beautiful sight lines’ that Mr Carey quotes.

I agree that speed itself does not kill, but hitting an object travelling at a slower speed does and it does not have to be the fault of the motorist’s bad driving. School children and cyclists also use the Reading Road and carelessness on their behalf will turn them into a victim regardless of the skill of the motorist.

I also thought it coincidental that on page 6 of the same edition of the Star there was an article on a road safety campaign ‘How would you tell Amy that you have killed her parents?’

I do not want to live in a society of dictatorship, but there must be some governance in place to prevent irresponsible road users endangering the lives of others.

Maybe Mr Carey should take note of the flowers by the roadside just a few hundred meters further up the Reading Road as he enters Yateley (if he is not travelling too fast) and consider how he would break it to Amy that he was admiring the beautiful sight lines.

Simon Bramble Reading Road, Yateley