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Residents get the hump over bumps
Calming the traffic?

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Residents get the hump over bumps

Proposed street calming measures on Percy Drive are now unlikely to go ahead after residents were again asked for comments.

Northumberland County Council had suggested introducing a priority chicane and 14 speed cushions. A resident who is also one of our readers, Laura Mathieson, told The Ambler what she thought about the scheme.

“Although I usually support traffic calming measures”, she said. “I believe that this proposal is mostly unnecessary and will cause much inconvenience to many of the residents in the East of Amble generally and the Radcliffe Estate in particular.

“I live in Dandsfield Square, and currently I have to negotiate a minimum of 10 speed humps before I can reach the centre of Amble, or Percy Drive to leave Amble, or Links Avenue to leave Amble via Hauxley. I have no choice of route without bumps – all my choices involve a minimum of 10 speed bumps. If the proposed speed cushions are built, I will then have 17 bumps to cross going down Percy Drive to reach the Health Centre, or to leave Amble via Percy Drive.”

When we asked the County Council what had led to these proposals, they told us that they had received many complaints about speeding along Percy Drive. During July and August last year letters were sent to 1,900 houses at the bottom end and the majority of those who responded were in favour of speed restrictions along Percy Drive. Only 24% were against.

The next step was to plan what form the restrictions would take. Speed cushions had to be used because buses travel along the road. Why so many cushions? It seems that if the cushions are further apart, drivers travel even faster between them. They must be close enough to prevent speeding.

Once the plans were made they were sent out to residents again, with this time a different result: of the responses received there were 41% against the scheme, so obviously many had changed their minds. So, what’s the likely outcome?

The decision will be made by the Executive Member for Community and Environment in discussion with the executive member for Highways and Operations who will be meeting soon. However, the council usually accepts that 30% or more against a proposal means that it is not accepted and a recommendation has been made not to go ahead.

As a postscript, county spokesman John Mather says that although speed restrictions are often requested by residents, the proposals made are often then rejected. Probably what we all want is drivers who take more responsibility for their speed.