Speedy way to safety (From Stroud News and Journal)

Speedy way to safety

PARISH councillors are to use speed guns to catch motorists who race through an accident blackspot in Minchinhampton.

The move is among a raft of measures being introduced in the first of a series of new schemes to cut road injuries in Gloucestershire.

Minchinhampton is the first community in the county to take part.

And it is not just speeding drivers who will be targeted - horse riders, pedestrians, schoolchildren and cyclists will also be given information about road safety.

Displays will be put up in shop windows highlighting road hazards and there will be a competition for children to come up with a slogan.

The main focus of attention will be Tom Long's Post - the dangerous junction where just last month a motorcyclist James Garraway, 20, was badly injured in a collision.

Three parish councillors have formed a road safety team and plan to educate road users from schoolchildren to senior citizens.

Cllr John Williams, one of those on the team, said the initiative was badly needed.

"The commons are owned by the National Trust and it will not allow a roundabout because it would spoil the area so we are doing as much as we can with the resources we have," he said.

"If we are worried by the results we will take things up with the highways department."

Parish council chairman Eilish Cope said a similar exercise a few years ago revealed shocking figures.

"We monitored the speed motorists were going and found 60 percent of them were way over the limit," she said.

"Drivers were going at 50, 60 and 70mph in a 40 zone."

Gary Handley, road safety team leader at Gloucestershire County Council, which is running the project, is confident it will be a success.

"By monitoring speeds on the common they are making drivers aware that there is cause for concern and this will encourage them to slow down," he said.