New £5,500 entrance “gates” designed to stop speeding are not getting their message across say road users, writes Sue Corcoran.
The large white slatted structures on the side of four main roads into Hurst village are part of a campaign to stop speeding and dangerous driving.
The campaign by Hurst Parish Council and Hurst Village Society is supported by Thames Valley Police.
Road users say the reason for the gates is not clear. Some thought they marked the parish boundary, but did not understand they were to help cut speed.
They called for 30mph signs to be added to them.
Cyclist Tim Ward, 41, of Broad Hinton, Twyford said: “I thought they were to differentiate areas of the district.”
He would never have guessed they were to cut speed. They needed 30mph signs on them.
The gates include the words: “Please drive carefully”. A driver whose work involves road safety believed the gates would have no effect on speed.
Hurst Village Society paid for the entrance gates on the roads from Twyford, Winnersh, Wokingham and Binfield.
Chair of Hurst Parish Council and the village society Cllr Wayne Smith said people were confused about why the gates were installed. He explained that the police had advised there was no “single bullet” to deal with speeding.
The gates acted in combination with large roundels giving the speed limit painted on red tarmac. The message was “You are entering an area where speed limits in general are 30mph. It does encourage drivers to slow down,” he said.
Some residents had asked for speed limit signs on the gates.
A raft of other contributing measures included: repeater speed limit signs along the roads and flashing signs when drivers exceed the limit.
The village has also recruited 20 volunteers to be trained to record speeds. The data will be sent to Thames Valley Police. The chief constable will then write a warning letter to speeding drivers.
Recently the police carried out their own speed checks in the village. The parish council also has a speed monitoring device which moves round every two weeks, with the results sent to the police, who can do their own checks.
“The police have told us we are doing more than most parish councils,” added Cllr Smith.
“Some years ago a motor cyclist was killed here. There have been other serious accidents. We want to help prevent anyone else being killed.”
People walking dogs and horse riders were among those at risk.
Hurst resident Jan Gough, 57, adopts rescue cats and has had five – Tom, Marmite, Pickle, Flo and Max, killed – on her road. Four died in the last two years.
“It’s so sad. I’ve got a big grave yard in my front garden,” she said.
“We have six cats at the moment. Every morning I do a count: I dread doing it.”
Lines Road, outside her house, is for access only to the 14 homes there. But a count had found 900 vehicles a day using it.
She is calling for police checks on where drivers were going. Years ago this had cut vehicle numbers.
“It just needs two or three random checks a year,” she said.
