Revving up for a war on speed

May 31 2012 by Lawrence Poole, Buckinghamshire Examiner

TRANSPORT chiefs have unveiled a new three-pronged attack on speeding drivers.

Transport for Bucks is inviting towns and villages to apply for a trio of measures to tackle speeding including:

* Temporary speed indicator devices which display the speed limit on the road.

* Vehicle activated signs which display a road’s speed limit and are activated by passing cars.

* Moveable vehicle activated signs which move around pre-agreed locations warning drivers of speed limits.

The move has been welcomed by communities across Bucks.

Great Missenden Parish Council chairman Brenda Gover said: “We’ve had the temporary devices approved and we’ve been trialling a mobile activated device at Ellesborough so we’re waiting on the results from that.

“The temporary ones only cost a couple of hundred pounds and the mobile ones are a few thousands so we’d definitely need help with funding.

“Wycombe Road in Prestwood and London Road in Great Missenden are roads which have been flagged up as ones which have a problem with speeding so we could do with them there.”

Chalfont St Peter Parish Councillor Isobel Darby said: “It’s definitely something we’d been interested in. One of the things on our ‘to do’ list is to source some funding.

“It’s a chestnut that always gets brought up by residents – Denham Lane and Nichol Road are regularly mentioned to us as having problems.

“I know a device went up in Packhorse Road as there was a near miss near St Mary’s School and it has proved very effective.”

Beaconsfield Parish Councillor Steve Jones said: “I’m sure we’d be interested – we’re always concerned about road safety and areas like Holtspur Top Lane is always a hotspot.”

Peter Hardy, cabinet member for transport, said “We have recently trialled some of these speed control signs in the central Chilterns villages and have chosen three different types of sign that the parishes may apply for. The signs are shown to significantly reduce vehicles speeding through villages and have been well received by those who take them on.”

* What do you think? Will these signs stop speeding motorists in their tracks? Email our letters page at bucksnews@trinitysouth.co.uk.