RESIDENTS of a busy road are calling on the council to reduce its speed limit from 40mph to 30mph in a bid to stop some motorists from driving down it at 90mph.
Nearly 50 Finchampstead neighbours have signed a petition urging councillors to take action over the Reading Road in the village. It wants the reduction to the residential street between its junctions of Park Lane and the Tally Ho pub.
Gareth Rees, one of the organisers, handed in the petition in to Wokingham Borough Council when it met on Thursday, March 21.
“Speeding vehicles on this road has been an increasing problem over the years as more houses have been built,” he explained.
“It’s quite scary walking down there or cycling. You just don’t feel safe with huge lorries passing close at 45mph or even higher speeds.
“I hope to have a few minutes to address councillors tonight as well as hand in the petition. Something has to be done soon. There was another recent accident which saw the road closed for six hours.”
The petition explains that the road section is the only part with a 40mph speed limit – by making the change it would bring it in line with the rest of the road.
“It’s on the boundary of a national speed limit from Arborfield and as a result we frequently have speeding cars and lorries overtaking 40mph cars on this section of road.
“There have been recorded incidents of cars traveling at 90mph down this section of road and confirmed by the community speed watch at Thames Valley Police.”
He added that the recent incident in which a telephone worker was seriously injured because of a road traffic accident at the junction of Park Lane and Reading Road was the third incident this year “confirming the fears of local residents that the road is unsafe for pedestrians”.
Mr Rees said that he and the other residents feel unsafe walking along the road and invited the councillors to join him for a walk to the pub to demonstrate their concerns. He also offered to buy a pint to any councillors who take him up on the offer.
“We would appreciate any support or advice they can provide to assist us in this request before there is another serious incident involving pedestrians on this road.”
