Mother campaigns for lower speed limit (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Mother campaigns for lower speed limit

8:49am Wednesday 14th March 2007 in Swindon By Gazette Reporter

A mother whose son was killed in a motorcycle crash wants the speed limit on the road where he died to be halved.

Malcolm Bunn, 32, crashed on a bend in Wharf Road between the M4 and Wroughton last October.

Now his mother Pamela Hudson says the 60mph limit should be slashed to 30mph.

"There should at least be white lines or something to slow people down," she said. "There are chevrons, but they are not right on the corner, so not much use.

"We went there after the inquest, to lay some red roses. While we were there a car came towards us and went right up on the verge.

"It was obviously travelling too fast. I used to work at the RAF hospital and travelled that road a lot. It's a horrible road."

Two more people were involved in a head-on collision in April 2005, but escaped with minor injuries. Despite the accidents, the road hasn't been flagged up on the Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership's radar.

Partnership officer Sgt Nick Blencowe said that while the road has a history of accidents, they had not been attributed to excessive speed.

He said speed cameras would be unlikely to slow people down on Wharf Road because few of them would be doing the 70mph-plus speeds needed to trigger fines.

Cameras can only be installed in places with a history of fatal accidents and a significant number of drivers exceeding the limit.

The partnership also takes public concern into consideration. Swindon councillors have called for the borough's highways department to investigate possible safety measures.

Coun Brian Ford said there was a serious crash on the road at least once a year and something needs to be done.

"I have recently, within the last month, notified the director of transport that I am still very concerned with the state of that road," he said.

"I asked him to look into it. I think the first thing is to get the surface right and some traffic calming on those bad bends.

"It doesn't need to be a speed limit but the speed limit should be investigated. Those bends are dangerous. A year doesn't go by without a car ending up in a ditch."

A Swindon council spokesman said the authority was reviewing Wharf Road along with all other A and B roads in the borough.

"In the past three years, there has sadly been one fatal accident on Wharf Road, along with six slight accidents," he said.

"This is not exceptional for a road of this type and length. Wharf Road is a B road outside an urban area, and all roads of this type across the country have a blanket 60mph speed limit.

"The fact that the limit on rural roads is 60mph does not imply it is always safe to travel at that speed.

"Nonetheless, we will be examining the speed limit on Wharf Road as part of a recent Government requirement for all local authorities to assess the speed limits on all A and B roads by 2011."

Residents backing campaign

Residents near Wharf Road also say something should be done to stop the regular accidents there.

Rosemary Windel, who owns a dairy farm on Wharf Road, said: "Drivers need to slow down, but I'm not sure lowering the speed limit would help.

"People speed up here because they have been caught up in the traffic in town and it has become a rat run to the motorway.

"I think a lot of drivers take advantage of the straight stretch to go over the limit, so lowering it wouldn't help, but something does need to be done.

"Our land is on both sides of the road, so we have to take our cows across the road every day and it is becoming more and more dangerous."

Another Wharf Road farm owner, who did not want to be named, said: "We have seen several fatal crashes and a lot more near-fatal ones over the years.

"I think people are driving above the limit and lowering it won't help. The limit isn't the problem, it's the condition of the road.

"Over the years we have really seen it deteriorate. If you had a road in a similar condition in town they would put speed humps on it."

Another resident, Dean Wood, said: "I don't really know what should be done. It is not the safest road, but it could just be the people driving along it."