Charterhouse Road – 2 crashes within a few weeks

A man in his 70s has been seriously injured in a collision with a car at the Charterhouse Road, Borough Road, Peperharow Road junction, according to the Surrey Advertiser.

This is the second crash in this area in recent weeks. There have been many car crashes at this location over the last decade:

Would a 20 mph limit have prevented these crashes? Lower speeds mean that everyone has more time to take evasive action and brake to a halt if mistakes are made. Lower speeds also make a difference to the severity of injuries in the event of a crash.

Cash has already been spent on engineering the Borough Road/Chalk Road junction to be safer, but if the speed limit is left at 30 mph some drivers will still attempt to drive at this utterly unsuitable speed.

Guildford blocks proposed 20 mph for Wodeland Avenue

Wodeland Avenue in Guildford is a potential rat-run between Portsmouth Road and Farnham Road. Instead of reducing the speed limit (long sought by local residents), the Guildford Local Committee have decided to spend £75,000 on other ‘traffic management’ measures.

The decision not to implement 20 mph is ostensibly down to the fact that speeds are too high on the road – currently, with a 30 mph limit, the average (mean) speed is 25.8 mph. Guidance suggests that speeds need to be 24 mph before a 20 mph limit can be used.

A previous meeting of the Local Committee suggested that:

‘In line with Surrey’s Speed Limit Policy, the existing speeds are too high to implement a 20mph limit without the introduction of traffic calming measures.

The police do not support the introduction of limits lower than those indicated by assessment under the new Speed Limit Policy, and would object to the introduction of a 20mph limit in the absence of measures designed to reduce speeds. The Area Highway Manager recommends against proceeding with a 20mph limit’

So, instead of reducing the speed limit, Guildford Local Committee is spending much more money on kerbed build outs, road markings and sign in order bring the speed down, but still don’t wany to change the speed limit.

By contrast, evidence from elsewhere appears to be confirming that a 1-2 mph reduction in speeds can be achieved using signs alone.

If each road that has a problem needs £75,000 spent on it to improve it then we’ve got serious budget problems ahead. By contrast implementing 20 mph using signs alone would cost far less and, as Bristol found, is popular and effective.

‘Letter of the week’ – from The Wharf Nursery

In the Surrey Advertiser, this week (16th March) came from the Headteacher at the Wharf Nursery School and Children’s Centre, Mandy Heslop. What an excellent response!

“Michael Hoad’s letter (9th March) suggests that it is not worthwhile to agree a 20mph speed limit on Godalming’s residential roads because some people will ignore it. What a negative outlook.

I’m old enough to remember when the laws about wearing seatbelts and crash helmets were introduced.

Many people doubted whether they could be enforced, but today death and serious injury rates are much lower and your rarely see a driver without their seatbelt or a motorcyclist without a crash helmet. people can learn to change their behaviour.

There is plenty of evidence that reducing the speed limit to 20 mph works.

In the last few years many towns have introduced the 20 limit and seen a reduction in casualties, particularly young children.

There have been fewer injuries and these have been less serious.

Local councils have worked hard to get local residents to understand why the limit is being introduced and to ‘change the culture’ so that speeding is seen to be what it is – dangerous and anti-social. 

It’s time to reclaim Godalming’s streets and make them safe for our young people. Twenty is plenty.”

“Campaign for 20 mph speed limit is gathering pace”

20′s Plenty for Godalming campaigner Chris Peck was quoted on the front page of the Surrey Ad last week.

20s plenty – the Minister writes in support

Nationally the move for lower speed limits is gaining more and more support. This week an Evening Standard columnist wrote about how she had been involved in a crash when still at school, saying:

I don’t understand those who choose speed over sense when driving, and I wish a 20mph limit was imposed on as many high streets and near as many schools as possible.

Council after council is endorsing 20 as the preferred speed limit in urban areas. The Government has written to every local authority telling them:

[We] invite you to consider greater use of 20mph zones and limits where this will help manage speeds for the safety of all road users.

New guidance on setting local speed limits will be coming out later this year which should be a further prompt to local authorities move faster on slower speeds (get it?).

Edit – the Surrey Advertiser (Godalming edition) has carried an article to 20s Plenty on their front page today!

“I witnessed the aftermath of an accident…”

Dan Eley is an inspiring guy. He was paralysed from the chest down two years ago but despite this terrible event has since founded an organisation to improve education and training in Colombia. He’s also due to be one of the Olympic torch bearers when it comes to Surrey in July.

He also lives in Godalming and has got in touch to say:

“I recently witnessed the aftermath of an accident when a pupil was hit by a car doing no more than 30 mph at the junction with the Witley CRC near Rodborough School. It was shocking to see the level of injury that can be incurred and it convinced me that 20 mph is preferably wherever groups of children gather… especially in the vicinity of schools.”

This was the second crash in just a few months involving a pupil outside Rodborough Technology College.

Ps… in January Dan made a virtual bike ride (on a ‘functional electrical stimulation’ bicycle – which stimulates muscle movements and maintains pulmonary capacity) from Godalming to Glasgow to raise money for Spinal Research!

The Times endorses 20 mph

The front page of The Times today carried the headline ‘Save our cyclists’. A young reporter on the paper had been crushed by a lorry while cycling to work in November last year. She remains critically injured in hospital.

In response to this horrible crash, and a growing number of similar incidents, The Times has launched a campaign today to improve safety on our roads. An eight point manifesto includes calls for better cyclist and driver training, more cycle lanes… and 20 mph on all streets without dedicated cycle infrastructure.

While this campaign is focused primarily on cycling, the best thing about 20 mph is that it benefits everyone who uses our streets. 20 mph isn’t just safer, it also means streets that are more pleasant, quieter places where people are more likely to want to walk and cycle rather than drive.