Safe Speed Forums

The A321 road in Twyford Berks connects Twyford village with the A4 about ¾ mile north of the village centre. It's a straight road (see photo) and until very recently was but has now been changed to .

I don't know whether this change was one in the current raft of political speed limits, or whether the change was made for safety reasons. I've lived within 500 yards of this road for many years and know of no accidents along it, except one in which a disqualified, drunken driver ran a red light and struck a pedestrian, leaving him mortally wounded. Read about it here.

I would not have thought that the speed limit reduction stemmed from this one incident, since clearly the driver had no regard for the law, and his actions would have been the same whatever the speed limit.

What I do know is that this road is plagued by bikers late at night who head south from the A4 roundabout towards the village, and reach speeds of 70-80mph, perhaps even more.

The police action has been to set up a temporary speed trap which is occasionally active. The trouble is that the police only enforce the limit at quiet periods of the day such as mid morning around 11am. Consequently, the only people they are likely to catch are those driving at between 35-40, which is a perfectly safe speed for this road even if it's now illegal. But of course, the police are long gone by the time the bikers next visit at around 9:30/10pm later that day. The police conviction rate might make TPTB think that something is being achieved in the name of road safety, but they'd be quite mistaken. Once again, it's the innocent and safe drivers who are being punished in order to meet the target quota of convictions, while the real villains (the 80mph bikers) are left untouched.

Has the problem been tackled the wrong way? Supposing the speed limit had been left at and a GATSO camera had been placed where the police now set up their trap - at least the bikers would have to slow down for the GATSO, and might not be able to accelerate to the eye watering speeds at which they currently pass this point.

Being devils advocate here...

What problem does a 70mph bike cause? It's a long straight road with no accident history. Are the bikes driving dangerously or is it more a noise issue?

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Looking at the map, that stretch is in a residential area, a place where motorists can be expected to interact with other road users of all ages. It does seem like 40 is a reasonable maximum.


I very much doubt the Safespeed campaign would have existed if speed cameras were set up such that their focus was to catch the nutters.

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

Given the times they are enforcing the limit.. I suspect it has more to do with extracting cash from the safe normally law abiding blipper than catching a real moron.

Lip service and spin to placate those who will then get angry and resentful when they become the real victims. It hardly helps build a strong trusting relationship between police and the neighbourhood they are claiming to "protect and serve". So in this instance.. I think they made the wrong decision in reducing the limit. They would have been better served to audit the road properly and enforce the speed limit accordingly with a view to copping the idiots at the time they are likely to be there

But then .. that's far too simple

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