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Clitheroe residents fear 'plague of speed bumps'

8:00pm Wednesday 16th September 2009


A ‘PLAGUE of speed bumps’ will hit Clitheroe if a county council road safety scheme gets the go ahead, according to residents and councillors.

A campaign has been launched after a Lancashire County Council scheme to improve road safety in two Clitheroe estates was deemed ‘excessive’ by people living in the area.

The scheme proposes to install up to 50 speed bumps and bus cushions in the Henthorn and Edisford estates.

David Butterworth, who lives in Fairfield Drive, said the construction of the humps was a pointless exercise.

He said: “These humps are traffic calming measures and should be put in area’s where they are many accidents which is just not the case where we live.

“Ironically, the streets where the traffic travels at high speeds like Edisford Road are not getting looked at but our residential streets where there is a very low traffic flow are getting speed bumps. It just doesn’t make sense.”

The proposals for the bumps cover an area between the junction of Eshton Terrace and Mitchell St, along the railway line to the end of Kemple View and then across to Edisford Road and back up to the junction with Thorn St.

The petition is being supported by local Liberal Democrat councillors.

Ward councillor Allan Knox, said: “For many years now we have been calling for traffic calming measures on both Henthorn and Edisford Road and we see no reason to change that, particularly when you look at accident statistics.

“But, amazingly speed bumps are also planned for roads such as Windermere Avenue, Ennerdale Road and Millthorne Avenue, plus a host more.

"Most of them see only residential traffic as people go to and from their homes, and we can see no reason for the speed bumps on these streets unless local residents have firm evidence based reasons for their need.”

The scheme also includes plans for a 20mph zone on the estates roads, however this will not include Edisford Road which will remain at 30mph.

The Lib Dem team has put together amendments to the plan, which they say will still improve road safety, but not involve humps on nearly every street.

The petition will be handed in before the end of the public consulation on October 1.


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Michael@ClitheroeSince58, Clitheroe says...
8:59pm Wed 16 Sep 09

Liberal Demoncrats strike again, what a waste of time and effort this bunch of clowns are.

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SirMartinRedhead, Accrington says...
9:16pm Wed 16 Sep 09

I think speed humps in place on garnett road and henthorn road would be a good ideas as there are alot of boy racers who drive at excessive speeds around that area

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Driver Awareness, Great Harwood says...
9:21pm Wed 16 Sep 09

There's little point in trying to talk sense into people (councillors especially) without a proper driver education. It's all been said before and they ain't listening. They don't get it.

"Stop all vehicles and we will stop all accidents" How sad is that?

All supporters of this scheme (and similar) are just pin headed unintellectual cretins. If they see a worth in speed bumps (and the like), they are obviously in need of them, themselves. Simple!

Psychological driving tuition (education) is the only answer towards improving road safety.



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enoch-powell, Whiteland says...
9:41pm Wed 16 Sep 09

I think Clitheroe deserve the speedbumps even though the ' country-bumpkins ' do not like change , villagers have to realise that the horses and carts have now gone replacing them are the ' boy racers ' and numpties . I believe you also have a Mosque ( relcome to the real world ! ) . In saying that , the last time I went to Clith I could not go over 5 mph because of all the tractors !!!!.....Bah Humbug etc etc

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brossen99, Ribble Valley says...
8:18am Thu 17 Sep 09

All three main parties are keen to demonstrate just how green they are and combating Global Warming. However, they all appear to support the continued introduction of traffic calming, ( mini-roundabouts etc. ) which increases carbon dioxide emissions by at least 50%, likewise 20 Mph Zones ( without humps or chicanes ) which add to emissions by 10%. The nastier potentially toxic pollutants linked with Asthma are doubled by traffic calming. It could be said that traffic calming is a greater risk to public health than latent asbestos or passive smoking ?

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brossen99, Ribble Valley says...
8:19am Thu 17 Sep 09

The alleged road safety benefits are less than clear, heavily traffic calmed Burnley reported a 44% reduction in child deaths over the past seven years, yet Ribble Valley with minimal traffic calming also reported a fall of 42% despite being far away from any A&E department. The reduction in road deaths is a good thing, but may be mostly due to better paramedic ambulance services and now the air ambulance service. Better medical provision was introduced alongside traffic calming, it may be wrong to give traffic calming all the credit when its contribution may be minimal. I believe that casualties have been cut by 15% in the Borough of Barnet since they ripped out existing traffic calming, casualties for cyclists dropped by twice the London average.

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brossen99, Ribble Valley says...
8:22am Thu 17 Sep 09

It would appear that traffic calming has become a TB infested sacred cow for the eco-fascist leaning groups who were originally and still campaign for its introduction. It would appear that the eco-fascists cling to traffic calming in the belief that divers will be " irritated " out of their cars and use the train, at least a few anyway. If anyone had deliberately set out to design death traps for cyclists its doubtful whether they could have made a better job of it than traffic calming. I believe the Green Party have now opted for the " less pregnant " option of 20 Mph speed limits but still fail to admit their original mistake.

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brossen99, Ribble Valley says...
8:24am Thu 17 Sep 09

It is interesting to note that almost all the scenes of recent fatal Knife Crime featured traffic calming or a 20 Mph speed limit. The installation of traffic calming is probably the key step towards a residential area becoming totally run down and lawless. By deterring regular through traffic from the streets criminals have more opportunities to commit crime without detection. Gangs of youths are more likely to congregate and cause trouble if they don't need to keep a sharp lookout for traffic. The evidence must show that almost all current semi-derelict slum areas have one thing in common, namely traffic calming installed at some point over the last 20 years. This must say something about the mentality of those alleged community leaders who campaign for the introduction of traffic calming. Take danger out of people's life ( particularly teenagers ) and they may replace it with something far worse.

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brossen99, Ribble Valley says...
8:26am Thu 17 Sep 09

The current main argument for imposing traffic calming is totally based on the NIMBY philosophy, ten bob fat cat property speculators desperately attempting to increase the theoretical value of their home. It would appear that they were under the impression that they actually own the road outside their mortgaged house and can dictate who can or can't use it, only a complete fool would buy a house with traffic calming on the street, especially if it was adjacent to an obstacle.

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brossen99, Ribble Valley says...
8:44am Thu 17 Sep 09

Bus services have been withdrawn from streets with humps due to the damage they cause to the new " low floor " disabled access vehicles, an alleged compromise was " speed cushions " but when cars park adjacent to them the buses still suffer damage having to run over the top. Bus operators rightly refuse to provide a service on such routes, a plan to ban parking on said streets was given a rocket by local residents, although none of them actually had the courage to suggest removing the traffic calming altogether.

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Mikeee47, Padiham says...
10:24am Thu 17 Sep 09

If people instilled more road safety inot their children, like the "Green Cross Code" & "Make sure the under 5s stay inside" there would also be a reduction in child death through road accidents,
Many times I see kids as young as 3 - 4 playing in the road & streets of residential areas these days with no sight of parents, once of a day they wouldn't be let out for fear of them getting runover or worse, go missing.
I agree, speed humps are not the answer.
The police shuold do the job they're paid to do & police our streets, we never had these problems 20 yrs ago so why now?
I'm sure if the so called boy racers saw a police presence the antisocial behaviour would end. its all too easy to keep hitting the law abiding motorist every time.
section 59 would actually get their vehicles seized.
Get tough with the councillors tell them you want the police to do something, & see their presence,

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mental red, burnley says...
10:54am Thu 17 Sep 09

Maybe the clitheroe firm called Ultraframe helped with this project............ !!!!!

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Longtimerover, Longtimerover says...
11:53am Thu 17 Sep 09

The speed bumps are a costly way of going about reducing the speed of some idiots on these roads.
A much less costly way to restrict the speed on these roads would be to make all the car and van owners, who leave their cars on and across the footpaths in the area, park them on the highway instead.
That would slow things down, and remove the necessity for pedestrians to walk in the carriageway.

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Mike Hock, Spiceville says...
2:16pm Thu 17 Sep 09

brossen99 wrote:
All three main parties are keen to demonstrate just how green they are and combating Global Warming. However, they all appear to support the continued introduction of traffic calming, ( mini-roundabouts etc. ) which increases carbon dioxide emissions by at least 50%, likewise 20 Mph Zones ( without humps or chicanes ) which add to emissions by 10%. The nastier potentially toxic pollutants linked with Asthma are doubled by traffic calming. It could be said that traffic calming is a greater risk to public health than latent asbestos or passive smoking ?
A very good point raised brossen.
.
To add... A vehicles running gear also suffers premature wear because of these humps. The life of the front and rear unsprung parts (wishbones and bushes especially) of vehicles are severely affected.
.
This increases emissions further due to the manufacturing, disposal, and replacement procedures involved.

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Longtimerover, Longtimerover says...
4:06pm Fri 18 Sep 09

The 'speed bumps' are to do with road safety. Green issues and global warming are other topics surely.

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Davidoff, n/a says...
7:12pm Tue 22 Sep 09

Having been born, bred and lived in the Clitheroe area a good portion of my long life, it's high time speed bumps were used! Pity they can't also be put in the countryroads around Pendle, Hodder Valley, towards Chatburn - including the bypass junction at Pimlico or Pendleton/Wiswell - to stop the yahoos treating them like Isle of Man TT Racing circuits. If you drive at speed on purpose then live with the consequences, just don't expect others to pay with their lives for your actions. Except in most cases it's the victims of your actions who DO pay with them, as the ones causing them seem to walk away a lot with minor or serious injuries. You know who you are.

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Michael@ClitheroeSince58, Clitheroe says...
8:52pm Tue 22 Sep 09

@Davidoff having lived in the Valley my entire life, I can say that most near misses I witness are by Sunday drivers, who drive at 20mph and create huge queues of traffic, in the end some one takes a chance and tries to get past Reginald Molehusband and his wife, thats when the accidents happen.
As for Isle of Man TT Racing circuits, So it's the motorcyclists to blame now? or have they started a car section in the TT.
For Christmas I would like a missile launcher attached to the front of my car to get rid of all Sunday drivers for good.
It's not speed that's the problem it's poor driving standards.

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