Many local residents will have noticed that wires have been placed at intervals across London Road over the last couple of days.
The wires are part of a speed assessment which Councillor Craig Browne asked for, following requests from a number of residents to do something about speeding vehicles through the centre of our village, particularly at weekends and during the evening.
Councillor Craig Browne said "I am aware that this has been an ongoing problem for some time and I have been pressing Cheshire East Highways to consider various traffic calming options as a result, however any action taken by Cheshire East Highways has to be evidence based and that is why they have agreed to carry out a speed assessment."
He added "The speed assessment can only take into account the average speed of all vehicles moving along London Road, so whilst we can all probably cite examples of vehicles we have seen using excessive speed, Highways will only be able to take action is there is evidence that most vehicles are travelling above the speed limit at this location."
Back in February, the Parish Council invested in an additional Speed Indicator Device which has been located on Congleton Road. This week Councillor Browne downloaded all the data that has been collected over the past nine months and has shared this with the engineers from Cheshire East Highways, to support the case.
The data shows:
- an average speed of 34 mph
- a top speed (southbound) of 86 mph
- a top speed (northbound) of 97 mph
- a total of 362,632 vehicle movements over the period
Graph above shows maximum recorded speeds on Congleton Road between 18th February 2019 and 18thNovember 2019. Green - incoming direction maximum 86mph, blue outgoing direction 97mph.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
I regret to say that 97 mph is not a misprint.
I have emailed Lisa with a copy of the graph showing the maximum speeds in both directions and asked her to add it to the images in the article above.
Unfortunately, there are a number of spikes in the graph showing speeds in excess of 60 mph, all of which serve to highlight the scale of the problem.
Kind regards,
Craig
86mph southbound.
Good grief!
There should speed cameras from the roundabout at the Merlin pub to the up past St Hilary's.
If these speeds aren't enough indication that we need them then I dread to think what it will take.
It's not clever, it's just pathetic.
I do wonder if there is a connection between this brainless exhibitionism and those ludicrously dangerous speeds recorded on a 30mph limit road in a busy village. Speeds which are so excessive that, on conviction, they might warrant a jail sentence.
Is there any intention to reinstate the central white lines through Alderley Village?
With the mish-mash of illegal parking along London Road and Congleton Road it's becoming difficult to establish "right of way" simply because its often difficult to see where the centre of the road is.
When vehicles are coming toward you at speed between Gusto / Bar & Grill (the start / finish line for some of the "pranksters" referred to above) it's quite disconcerting.
A few minutes later a large Audi SUV decides in drive up the kerb and park on the frontage outside Barclays Bank to nip and get a coffee from next door!! Forget the pedestrians - me included, who have to avoid him!!
Meanwhile a Bentley parks across the corner on the double yellows to pop into the Chemists.
All normal driving standards in wonderful Alderley
GrahamP
Speed cameras together with Police presence would help, better than speed bumps affecting innocent drivers. What steps can be taken to get some action?
There should be proper punishment for the crime for individuals concerned.
They should be made to attend a long period of training for road use in their leisure time and fully paid for by them. It would serve little to no use issuing fines to those who can easily afford them. So time is the way to go here.
A course with modular learning and exams. They must earn the right to have their license back, followed with a probation period ensuring they don’t slip back to bad behaviours.
Just my thoughts...