AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN? IN NORTHCHURCH IT JUST DID!
At the HCC Council Meeting of 27th March, Lara Pringle, the new DBC councillor for Northchurch presented a petition from the local Road Safety Pressure Group, "Go 20 Northchurch".
Local residents have been calling for some time for a 20 mph speed limit to be imposed on the centre of the village.
Currently HCC Road Safety Policy does not permit 20 mph restrictions on A or B roads in rural areas.
Speaking in support of the petition, Herts Lib Dem County Councillor for Tring, Nick Hollinghurst, proposed a motion asking the county council to review their current inflexible policy, with a view to permit 20 mph restrictions to be introduced on main roads in rural areas such as Northchurch High Street and the A4251. This motion was passed unanimously.
Nick explained, "In urban areas, the policy does allow for 20 mph restrictions on main roads, where exceptional circumstances justify it. However there is no scope at the moment for rural areas to be treated in the same way - but in fact in the centre of Berkhamsted there is an extensive 20 mph restriction along the very same A4251!
Northchurch residents deserves the same protection."
"This weekend saw a prime example of why these restriction should be imposed. Just at the very spot where children cross the A4251 to the Northchurch Recreation Ground a car crashed into the pedestrian crossing island taking out two bollards and a prominent motorist warning sign on a large pole.
Had anyone been half-way across the road at that point, they would have had no chance."
Nick concluded, "We have not yet had a report from the county council officers concerning the policy review. This potentially serious accident underlines the urgency of the situation. Residents and their children need these speed restrictions put in place without delay."