There will be an update on the current status of the road safety improvements around Overdale School.
Minutes:
The Chair provided an update on the road safety proposals around Overdale School. It was reported that a formal consultation exercise had been carried out with 114 letters being hand delivered and from this 19 responses had been received, 3 had supported the proposals and 16 had opposed them. In addition to this, there had been a petition with 300 names submitted by the Parents Association supporting some form of safety measures however not necessarily the ones on the consultation letter.
Residents were informed that road layout changes had been previously opposed at Community Meetings and that there had been no recorded pedestrian accidents on Overdale Road during the last 3 years. The Chair reported that there had been an offer to provide a temporary crossing patrol at the site subject to a recruitment exercise.
In addition to the update, the Chair explained that discussions had taken place with the nearby Leicester Bowls Club on Kenwood Road to allow the use of their car park which was less than 5 minutes’ walk from the school.
A resident reported that the flashing lights sign on Overdale Road was not working. David Poxon, Team Leader, Road Safety agreed to look into this.
In addition to the above update, David Poxon, Team Leader, Road Safety reported on the plans to introduce 20mph zones in the city. David reported that the County Council had installed 20mph zones and had seen a 1-2mph reduction in average speeds. Current areas that were traffic calmed were being looked at and consultations were taking place on installing 20mph zones in those areas.
With regards to the consultation, David reported that 7000 households had been consulted and 1200 responses had been received.
The Chair stated that there had been numerous complaints about roads in the ward being used as ‘rat runs’. In order to combat this, the Chair stated that ideas such as a speed watch scheme or perhaps the use of speed guns.
In response to the idea of installing speed humps, it was stated that one speed hump would cost around £3,000 and these had to be installed with 50 metres of each other.
With regards to the vehicle activated sign, David stated that a new scheme was being considered in which the signs were moved from site to site. Residents were informed that vehicle activated signs should only be installed in a location to deal with an accident problem. With the new scheme, speed indicator devices would be installed in sites temporarily then would be moved. In response to a query regarding the cost of the new devices, David stated that they would cost £3500 each with data gathering. With regards to installing the devices, residents were informed that a new cluster site list of areas had been developed which contained sites that had experienced nine or more accidents in the last three years.
In response to the proposals for a speed gun idea, residents stated this was a good idea as there was a lot of speeding in the area and there were reasons such as safety of children to consider. Additionally in response to the community speedwatch idea, David stated that there was infrastructure through an initiative backed by the Police and run through the Road Safety Partnership by the County Council where someone was able to train the users of the gun.
Comments were made by residents that there needed to be more national awareness with regards to driving standards. David stated that the Department of Transport had experienced cuts to its advertising budget.
The Chair encouraged those interested in the idea to get involved. A resident suggested getting children involved. David explained that this idea had been done before with children being taken out of primary and secondary school and worn high visibility jackets and drivers had taken notice.