Community Speed Watch: Brailes Road Safety Improvement Plan
Speeding was one of three key topics presented at the Brailes village meeting on the 13th July. Details of our proposed ‘School Safety Zone’ and locations of other permanent traffic calming measures were discussed and received unanimous support from members of the public that attended. Our intention now is to progress the plan to the next phase. We will keep you updated on our progress.
Given all the evidential data that has been collected for nearly 3 years now, speeding remains an ongoing serious issue. On average:
– 50,000 vehicles drive through Brailes every Month
– 24,000 exceed 30mph
– 7,000 exceed 35mph, that’s 233 every day !
– A high % of speeding occurs between 7-9am and 4-6pm
Speeds of over 50mph are regularly recorded during the day, the highest in June was 65mph in Lower Brailes and 57mph in Upper Brailes.
The School has played a very important part in our Road Safety Improvement Plan so far. The children have got involved and told us what they think we need to do to make the roads safer for everyone to cross. We’ve had lots of suggestions so a big thank you to all the children and of course to Mrs Childs and her team for their enthusiastic support.
Here are just some of their ideas:
The parents were also invited to give us their views. Some really good and practical feedback was received. The overwhelming response for a designated ‘zebra’ crossing and means of physically slowing traffic speed is included in the plan.
However, the inherent dangers of parking on the main road by the school at drop-off and pick-up times was also raised as an issue, especially when children have to exit a vehicle in the middle of the road. Part of the plan therefore is to provide a safer place for parents to park and for the children to have a safer route to school.
In the meantime the Community Speed Watch (CSW) team will continue to be seen throughout the village to try to make drivers more aware of their speed so if you want to help and can spare an hour or so a month why not join the team. You can do this by emailing the CSW team via br****************@*****ok.com.