Tuesday, 22 April 2014

Dangers To Cyclists And The Need For 20mph.

Over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend my husband and I were cycling between Fairford and Lechlade when a van travelling over 50mph hit my husband and knocked him off his bike. 
After being taken to hospital by ambulance his injuries were confirmed as damage to his shoulder, arm, back and hand, so he was very lucky. 

It turns out that the road we were cycling along is notorious for accidents, but we were unaware of this as we were not familiar with the local area. We have been put off cycling on the roads for now, but this really highlights the need for road speed limits to be reduced. 

As a Parish Councillor of Whiteshill and Ruscombe we campaigned with Randwick Parish Council for many years to have the speed limit in the Ward reduced to 20mph, and last year this was introduced. 

I recently wrote a letter to the Stroud Life about this. 

"Dear Editor,
It is so good to see that Stroud may soon be getting a reduction in road speed limits to 20mph. 
As a Parish Councillor of Whiteshill and Ruscombe, ourselves and Randwick Parish Council, finally got a Ward wide 20 mph speed limit across Randwick, Whiteshill, and Ruscombe last year. It was not easy to get this introduced, and involved lots of work with County Council, Glos Highways and the support of local residents.
I noted that recent speed check showed that on average, motorist are driving slower through the ward but we still have a long way to go as people are still not used to what feels like an unnaturally slow speed.
With most residential roads in Stroud soon becoming 20mph this will encourage drivers to change their driving habits and I hope that this will continue as they drive up into our Villages.
Statistics show that lower speed limits reduce your chances of being killed if you are hit by a car, this has to be a good thing to pass on to the next generation and improve the areas we all live in."
 


At the moment, recent speed checks carried out over the last two weeks have shown that vehicles are still travelling too fast through the Village, but I hope that once other areas like Stroud and Cashes Green get 20mph speed limits too, drivers will become accustomed to driving slower everywhere. 


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