B4022: 'Reduce the speed limit to save lives' (From Witney Gazette)

B4022: 'Reduce the speed limit to save lives'

3:40pm Tuesday 29th December 2009

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SEVEN fatalities in a decade along one stretch of road has led to residents and councillors calling for a 40mph speed limit.

The de-restricted B4022 — which just last month claimed the life of mother-of-two Linda Bennett — is being considered for the speed reduction by Oxfordshire County Council on Thursday, January 7.

It follows calls from Hailey Parish Council and residents concerned about the speed of cars along the road, which has already seen two fatalities this year.

Barry Shelton, manager of the Bird in Hand, in Whiteoak Green, said: “The problem is not getting better, it’s getting worse — cars get faster as the years go by.”

The parish council requested the changes after the county council asked for suggestions for speed limit alterations on Oxfordshire’s roads. It wants the speed restriction to come into force between Hailey and Finstock, starting 230 metres south west of the Finstock High Street, and finishing 141 metres north west of Priest Hill Lane, in Hailey.

More than a dozen residents have written to the parish council to support the proposal.

Andy Smith, vice-chairman of the parish council and chairman of Witney’s Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG), said: “There are more cars on the road, and it’s going to keep getting worse.

“We have buses stopping around the corner, and we have no pavement. We have got big dips and blind corners.

“There is lots of public concern with parish council meetings going back 20 plus years, where people have tried to get this through.”

County Hall spokesman, Paul Smith, said: “Towns and villages grow and change, and what might have been a sensible speed limit to set down five or ten years ago, may no longer be appropriate.

“It is common sense to periodically review these speed limits, and the need for a review in Oxfordshire was given extra impetus when the Government asked all local councils to look at all speed limits and try to get some countrywide uniformity in line with the national guidelines.”

Last month, Mrs Bennett died in a car crash along the B4022, less than a mile from her home in Finstock.

She was on her way to fields in Charlbury, where her horse Ben was kept, on Saturday, November 28 evening, just three days before her 53rd birthday.

Motorcyclist Robert Smith, 46, of Hailey, was killed in April, when his motorcycle and an Audi A4 collided near the Crawley junction, just half-a-mile from his home.

Mr Shelton said: “I would like to see the speed limit come down for the safety aspect of my guests leaving and entering, but also we have a concern for the people that live locally, in particular the people who are waiting for buses and walking to the bus stop.

“People on holiday to the Cotswolds come here specifically for the walking and they ask us where they can walk.

“And I usually say, don’t walk around here.”

He added: “I think a lower speed limit would remind people of their duty to other road users, pedestrians and riders.”

To add your support to the 40mph speed limit campaign, send an email to haileypc@live.co.uk

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