BOY RACERS : HOW YOU CAN HELP

We've had reports from all over town about late night high speed racers. Congregating and doing wheelies on the Sports Centre Car Park, racing round St Briavels, Shire Way, Rodford Way, Greenways Road, Brimsham ay 80mph or more

We have raised all your concerns with the police, and advised residents to report it shopping centre issues to the shopping centre managers (who also do security on the car park).

Please can you report it to the police whenever you have a problem. They allocate resource by looking at levels of complaint. So your reporting is vital. We have also asked for it to be raised at the next police community meeting - if residents could attend that and explain that would help too.

The current activities are dangerous and disruptive.

We have spoken to the police about possible devices to stop them, but the police say these racers see interactive speed circles as a challenge to see how fast they can go, and are not deterred by speed humps. And South Glos Council won't put in interactive signs or humps unless there is a lot of evidence - too often sadly they only respond after people have been injured or killed. At the very least they need a lot of data from speed checks. Although we have a trained speed checker int he focus team, formal community speed watches, which she can help with, require the police to have identified a problem. So the key is getting the police to recognise the scale of the problem.

Heron Way speed limit to be reduced?

For years local people have been campaigning for the speed limit on Heron Way to be reduced from 40 mph to 30 mph. You can't go very fast at the top end anyway, but there have been problems with speeding cars on the hill down to the roundabout.

It's always been strange that this road is 40 mph like a dual carriageway, but other roads the same size or bigger are only 30 mph - Scott Way, Shire Way and Westerleigh Road for example.

South Glos Council has looked at the situation and concluded that Heron Way ticks all the boxes to be made 30 mph - now they would like to hear YOUR views. The consultation is open until 18 May - you can respond to it here:

https://consultations.southglos.gov.uk/consult.ti/HeronWay30/consultationHome

Come and tell the police about current problems 11 March 7pm

With serious assaults, late night high speed car racing, vandalism a lot of residents have been raising issues about policing. YOU can raise your concerns directly with the police at the Yate Dodington Community Engagement Forum

on 11 March from 7 - 9pm at Yate Parish Hall on Station Road Yate.

ANYONE can attend, no need to register in advance.

Your Councillors will be there as well as the police, so it is a good place to sort out what can be done to tackle the problems we are facing locally.  You can also find out more about the Town Council Free Graffiti Removal service there.

(It's the middle one of the three community buildings on the south side of Station Road just before Eggshill Lane/ the small Tesco).

You can find out what the police think the local crimes are by looking at their crime map at:
https://www.police.uk/avon-and-somerset/CN207/
If it's not there, then someone has not reported it.
And the same site tells you what their current priorities are for Yate and Dodington - these change as a  direct result of the Community Engagement Forum.

Rodford Way and Shire Way Speeding

Residents who came to the town council meeting  and their councillors

Residents from the Rodford Way and Shire Way areas met with Town Councillors from the Focus Team to identify a 6 point action plan to try to tackle  speeding, particularly late night speedsters, and other problems on Shire Way and Rodford Way. Since then we've taken advice from other communities who have encountered similar problems, the police have been out doing speed checks. Residents have been advised to call the police when they get late night problems - if we don't log the problems then the police won't allocate resources to sort it.

Consultation on 30 mph limit for Frampton Cotterell

Many drivers from our area go through Frampton Cotterell on their way to and from Bristol. At the moment the stretch of the B4058 Bristol Road from the Church Road traffic lights almost to the Swan is 40 mph.

The proposal is to reduce the speed limit to 30 mph in order to cut the number of accidents. You can see the information and respond to the consultation here - it's open until 17th November.

Chipping Sodbury School area - 20 mph speed limit consultation - open until 22 September

South Gloucestershire Council is consulting on a scheme is to reduce traffic speeds in the vicinity of Chipping Sodbury School, which will make walking and cycling to school more attractive. The proposal is to reduce the speed limit from 30mph to 20mph along roads in the vicinity of the school, in line with the other schools in the area.

The following roads are affected by this scheme:

• Bowling Road
• Claypit Hill
• Dodington Road
• Gullivers Place
• Lilliput Avenue

You can find full details and comment here

Could YOU help stop speeding?

The Chipping Sodbury Community Speedwatch team are seeking further members to assist their activities on Kennedy Way and Cotswold Road.  This would boost their ability to monitor speeds now that the statutory limit has dropped to 40mph (but is still often being ignored).  

Speedwatch training by the Police is a very simple operation. If you're interested, please phone the local organiser John Pearce on 01454 778418.

Traffic accidents on Rodford Way

Tony Davis checking out the fast-moving traffic

As well as the pedestrian accidents on Rodford Way, there’s another cluster of accidents on the eastbound carriageway near Kelston Close and Witcombe that each involve only a single vehicle. For example, recently a car overturned above the Abbotswood subway.  Focus councillors have requested South Glos traffic engineers to investigate this piece of road, and Yate Safer Stronger Community Group has asked for a flashing speed sign to warn motorists and gather speed data.

Elswick Park consultation - Kennedy Way, Shackleton Avenue and Mulberry Crescent - Waiting Restrictions and Banned Right Turn

South Glos is consulting on restrictions associated with the Sea Stores development:

• At the junction of Kennedy Way / Normandy Drive (the new entrance road) to protect visibility;
• In the new layby in Kennedy Way (constructed for refuge collection vehicles) to prevent parking in the area;
• In the culs-de-sac of Shackleton Avenue and Mulberry Crescent (part of the new development) to prevent parking in the area around the emergency access to the development

It is proposed that vehicles leaving Elswick Parkwillonly be able to turn left towards Yate. They will not be able to turn right onto Kennedy Way.

Full details of the Elswick Park consultation are on the South Glos website - the closing date for comments is 2nd September.

Latest on speed limit reductions

You may have read in the Gazette that the Council has now advertised the B4465, Westerleigh Road and Nibley Lane scheme. This is the next stage in the legal process for introducing the speed limits. 

In the paper it says that the deadline for comments is 1^st September. However, Claire Young spotted a mistake in the Notice of Proposal and raised this with officers. As a result a corrected Notice of Proposal has been issued and the deadline has been extended to 12 September 2012. 

You can see all the details of the consultation on the South Glos website.

Elswick Park - 20 mph speed limit in estate

There is currently a South Glos consultation about a 20 mph speed limit within the new development - this is normal nowadays for similar new cul-de-sac streets. It probably won't make much difference except for deterring young motorcyclists from racing up and down the roads.

You will probably have seen the road works on Cotswold Road outside Elswick Park - the 30 mph speed limit is going to be lengthened, there will be a toucan crossing and people won't be able to turn right out of Elswick Park.

Speed checks on Church Rd, Frampton Cotterell

A lot of people in our area use Church Road in Frampton Cotterell when they are driving to work. Local people there have been concerned about speeding traffic.

The Camera Safety Partnership have now found a suitable site to park their mobile speed camera and the speed data shows that enforcement is justified, so this month they will be starting to operate this as a "Community Concern" site.

Cotswold Way and Kennedy Way exhibition results

South Glos Council has announced the results of the questionnaire from the exhibition at Chipping Sodbury School. There were 69 replies. South Glos will now work up a detailed scheme for the full legal consultation. They say:

"From the above results and comments made at the exhibition, the Formal Consultation plans will include proposals to maintain the current speed limit for the interim and carry out traffic calming measures on the southern side of Cotswold Road/Kennedy Way" (That's the side nearest to the school - Editor).


"The proposals will include reducing the existing dual carriageway from the Smarts Green Roundabout in a westerly direction to one lane and providing hatching. A cycle lane will be provided on this length of road along with a vehicle activated sign. A short length of protected parking will be provided on this side of the road and hatched markings".


"Following formal consultation and scheme implementation, it is proposed to monitor the vehicle speeds and driver behaviour on this southern side of Cotswold Road before progress is made on the northern carriageway".

It does seem a bit strange that they aren't proposing to reduce the speed limit, even though three quarters of people asked for it. Maybe they're hoping to get the speed down to its present limit first...

Cotswold Way and Kennedy Way consultation - reminder (updated)

Don't forget, South Gloucestershire's display is next Tuesday (17 July) in the Drama Hall at Chipping Sodbury School from 4 pm to 8 pm.

This also affects Kennedy Way, so if for example you live off Heron Way this could well affect YOU.

The idea of the scheme is to reduce the number of injury accidents. The proposals include:-

• Reducing two traffic lanes to one for part of Cotswold Road
• Reducing the speed limit from 50mph to 40mph
• Introducing cycle lanes
• Introducing marked parking bays
• Installing two vehicle activated speed warning signs (similar to those in Shire Way)

Details are on the South Glos consultations web page - look down the list for "A432 Cotswold Road/Kennedy Way Scheme".

Mini roundabout, 30 mph limit for Westerleigh Rd, Yate?

South Glos is consulting about a proposal to put a mini-roundabout at the junction of Westerleigh Rd and St Briavels Drive and to reduce the speed limit on that stretch from 40 mph to 30 mph, so as to cut the accidents on the junction and that part of the main road.

Full details are on the South Glos website - look down the list and and click on "Yate - Proposed 30 mph Speed Limit Order - Westerleigh Road". You can look at the plans and see the paperwork.

You can send in comments up until 23 July. - address them to Head of Legal and Democratic Services, The Council Offices, Castle Street, Thornbury BS35 1HF, for the attention of Dean Shepherd, quoting reference L3/DS/STOP/PT.3175.

Double accident on Goose Green Way

There was a major "double accident" on Goose Green Way yesterday evening at about 10.30 pm. A car travelling from the direction of the Shopping Centre collided with the first set of
pedestrian traffic lights and demolished one of them.

It then carried on and collided with a lamp post near the Gravel Hill Rd pedestrian crossing, bringing down the lamp post. The car ended up on its roof, but the driver climbed out and ran off. Two other cars coming behind then collided with the demolished lamp post.

It's suggested that the first driver may have been doing close to 100 mph, but of course speeds can be deceptive. The police were on the scene very quickly.

A speed camera van on Goose Green Way recently

Pedestrian crossings at Shire Way - and a little history

Glad to see that our pedestrian crossings on Shire Way are operating - here's Cllr Dan Clark checking out the crossing to Wapley. Hopefully they'll not only make crossing the road easier, they'll also keep traffic speeds down a bit.

We thought you might like to see how the Government introduced these new-fangled things in the late 1940s. Notice that they don't yet have zebra stripes in this early public information film.
Click on the arrow to start the short film.

Seven in eight break speed limit

Remember this? We guessed that just over half the drivers were breaking the 30 mph speed limit. But we were wrong - it was seven drivers in every eight.

Between the 1st and the 22nd Feb, 71,218 cars went down this part of Westerleigh Rd towards the mini-roundabout.

8659 vehicles obeyed the limit. Fortunately most people didn't break the limit by much. The mean speed was 33 mph, and 93% were doing 40 or less.

But that still means that 7% of vehicles travelled at over 40 mph. And incredibly, on this short piece of 30 mph road, 185 vehicles were doing more than 50 mph. That's eight a day.

Strangely, although there's less traffic on a Sunday there are just as many speeders over 40 mph.

Maybe the mud from the railway and the traffic lights might slow them down for a while...

Speeding - "Kill your speed, not a child"

There's a temporary interactive flashing speed sign on Westerleigh Rd, between the big Rodford Way roundabout and the mini-roundabout next to the railway bridge.

The striking thing this morning was how many of the cars going past were triggering the sign - more than half, at a guess. Maybe people are just confused about speed limits - driving through our area they go 30 - 40 - 30 - 40...

Would it be more sensible to have ONE speed limit (30 mph) in our built-up area, except maybe on dual carriageways? Would this help people observe the speed limits? Please leave a comment with your opinion.

The actual speeds are being logged, so we hope to bring you some information about the figures from Westerleigh Rd in a few weeks. Watch this space.

By the way, although we've blanked out the car numberplate, it's not the car you can see that was speeding - it's the car out of shot behind it!