Residents Association speeding reports

click Parish Council speeding reports for other reports on speeding

click The Residents Association for all other reports.

Hallmark December 1994. Report by David Chalkley

We continue with our efforts to pursuade the County Council to take seriously the problemof speeding along Main Road. We have wtten to the Planning and Transportation Department asking that they again carry out speed checks in the village. The last time it was done, in1991, checks were made when the school was opening up in the morning and this obviously had a calming effect on traffic. We have requested that checks be made betwee 7.30 and 8.30 am on a weekday morning, 5.30 and 7.30 pm on a weekday evening, and during the afternoon at weekrends. After a certain amount of prodding we have obtained a promise that the speed checks will be made at the times we have suggested, but no firm date has yet been given. We will continue to put pressure on thr transportaion officials at County Hall. In the meantime we have noted that more and more villages in Bucks have been fitted with traffic calming devices, but not in Lacey Green.

Hallmark July 1995. Report by David Chalkley

We continue to press the County Council to do something about the problem of traffic speeding along Main Road. Thanks to these efforts, and those of the Parish Council and the local M.P. David Liddington, we are beginning to make some progress. The Council carried out speed checks in June over a seven-day period, form 7 am to 7 pm. The results are extremely interesting. The volume of traffic averaged 4200 vehicles per day over the week, and peaked at 4800 on weekdays. 15% of the traffic, equivalent to 625 vehicles broke the speed limit of 40 mph each day. Between 2 and 4 vehicles exceeded 50 mph each day, obviously a very dangerous situation.

For some inexplicable reason the Council engineers placed their speed probe at a point south-east of the junction with Roundlands. At this point traffic is either approaching or leaving a curve in the road, and would naturally slow down. We have, therefore asked the Council to repeat the tests on a straight section between Stocken Farm and Lacey Green School, where we expect recorded speeds to be even higher.

The Council say they are actively looking at traffic calming devices but have not yet come up with a solution. We are pressing them to come up with firm proposals.

Hallmark January 1996. Report by David Chalkley. click David & Barbara Chalkley for more about David)

We continue with our campaign to have something done about traffic speeding along Main Road. At our insistence, Bucks County Council have agreed to carry out further speed checks along the straight section between the Lacey Green School and Stocken Farm. Previous tests have been carried out on the approach to a bend in the road where traffic would naturally slow down.

The Secretary of the Association and I attended a meeting of the Parish Council on November 15th. at which Mr. Spencely, the Divisional Engineer from the Bucks C.C., was questioned about the problem of speeding and what the Council was going to do about it. We found Mr. Spencely's attitude to be entirely negative, and all the suggestions made by Parish Councillors and ourselves were considered by him either to be too difficult, too expensive or to require engineering resources that he did not have. Even the obvious suggestion to have the 40mph speed limit sign at the south end of the Village moved further towards Strike Command met with a negative response.

We pointed out that speed cameras had proved highly effective on the A40 and other roads, but the cost (£7000 for the housing and up to £25000 for the camera) was considered by Mr. Spencely to be prohibitive.

We were left with the impression that only a spate of serious accidents along Main Road would convince the County Council and the Police that some action was needed. lronically a serious traffic accident occurred outside Lacey Green School shortly after the meeting, and we understand that a Police prosecution is likely.

Hallmark April 1996. Report by David Chalkley

The meeting expressed its mounting concern about speeding in Main Road, particularly in view of the two accidents that have occurred in the vicinity of the School in the past four months, and the unwillingness of the County Council to take any action. We shall be writing to the County Council, with copies to our local MP and County Councillor, with specific recommendations covering a reduction in the speed limit to 30 mph, the relocation of the speed sign at the Wycombe end of the Village to a point further south, the remarking of the speed sign with a bright yellow surround to make it more obvious, and the installation of speed cameras. We are liasing on this with the Parish Council and the Headmaster of the Lacey Green School, who has also voiced his concern. We urge residents in Main Road, and parents of school children to write also to the County Councillor, Tim Jones, at County Hall if they feel the same way. The more letters received the greater the impact.

Hallmark June 1996. In May of this year, in response to the anger and frustrations expressed by members at our AGM, we wrote to Tim Jones, our County Councillor, urging him to take measures to reduce speeding in Main Road. We also carried out a mail drop to all residents on Main Road asking them to write individually to Mr. Jones on the same subject. We would like to thank all who did so, and also the Parish Council and the Headmaster and Governors of the School for their continual efforts to get something done.

As a result of our combined efforts Mr. Jones has spoken to the Planning and Transportation Department at County Hall, and some progress has been made. The County Council now propose to erect new speed limit signs with yellow backing at each end of the Village, and to install highly visible road markings to attract the attention of drivers that they are approaching a speed limit area.

In addition, we are pressing the County Council to place the signs at the southern end of the village further away so that traffic Is more likely to slow down before entering the first bend and encountering the traffic outside the school, and also to include Woodway and Loosley Row in the speed restricted area. We are also discussing with them the possibility of installing speed cameras in Main Road.

It has taken over 20 years of almost constant complaining, and a potentially very serious accident outside the school last November, to galvanise the County Council to take even these modest measures. They – still adamantly refuse to lower the speed limit to 30mph, but are unable to explain why Naphill and Monks Risborough have 30 mph limits but not Lacey Green. We will continue to press for a lower speed limit.

Hallmark May 1997. Report by David Chalkley

As far as traffic calming measures in Main Road are concerned the County Council have now installed speed restriction signs with a yellow backing at both ends of the Village, and speed camera warning signs have just been erected, so, at least some of the measures promised last year have been implemented.

Hallmark May 1999. The Lacey Green and Loosley Row Residents Association

In order to combat the traffic problem which threatens to blight our villages, the Association has allied itself with the Parish Council and the Chiltern Society. The Committee feels that a speed camera is essential: the absence of the device is beginning to be conspicuous. Every time an approach is made, however, it is met with a courteous refusal. At present the Police authority is required to finance speed cameras – although all revenue goes to central government. This is – apparently under review, and the Committee felt that a change in financing would prompt a change in attitude. Overall, it was felt that a groundswell of public opinion was beginning to make itself felt, and that in the longer term real improvements could be expected.

The Traffic Problem engendered a great deal of interest and suggestions, and a discussion about the criteria which had to be met if the villages were to qualify for various provisions. A certain amount of cynicism emerged about these: ---it appeared that the rules for such provisions were more celebrated in the breach than the observance.

The parking problem at the school had been addressed, but without any success - the situation was no different from that a year earlier. The school's popularity had done nothing to improve matters.