Man’s radar bid to curb drivers who speed past his home
Sam Sykes with the radar equipment he bought to monitor speeds on the A`143
A father of two young children has invested £3,000 in his bid to slow traffic speeding past his home.
Sam Sykes moved to his Wickham Street home on the A143 and says he was astounded by the speed of traffic passing his driveway.
He has teamed up with Tony Gearing who has been calling for a cut to the 60 mph limit through Stradishall highlighting the dangers of fast traffic at the Wickhambrook to Clare crossroads.
Mr Sykes, a product designer, has been recording speeds using his radar equipment. This has shown that 54 per cent of drivers scanned breached the 40mph limit - around 2,500 cars each day.
He said: “When I moved to the house I was astounded at how fast people were driving past the end of our drive.
“I didn’t want to complain without evidence or without getting support. Statistic are all well and good but I wanted to capture what was really going on.”
Mr Sykes says that bringing the limit on the stretch of road through Wickham Street to 30mph will have a psychological effect of slowing drivers right down.
He believes that a 40 limit tends to make drivers feel they can travel faster whereas they keep to the 30mph used in built up areas.
Tony Gearing has a cottage on one side of the A143 and a market garden on the other.
He said: “We risk our lives every time we cross the road. because cars are allowed to pass our house at 60mph, the national speed limit, they do not think they have to consider pedestrians at all. Often when we are crossing from our home to our garden with our toddlers we have to pick them up and run because it is clear the vehicles are not going to slow down - despite seeing us.
“If there were even a 50mph speed limit on this stretch it would at least stop many drivers thinking ‘we own this road’. We want them to recognise they share this busy road with several homes and businesses and give us rightful consideration.”
Suffolk County Council says it has conducted a review of all speed limits and deemed them to be acceptable.
County councillor Jane Midwood said that she would take the matter up with appropriate councils if Mr Sykes contacted her so that speeds could be examined through official channels as his findings were not legally acceptable. She said she sympathised with their concerns and had been involved in getting 40mph limits at the Plumbers Arms crossroads.
To find out more and access the petion go to http://facebook.com/SaferA143 or twitter @SaferA143
The website is at http://www.SaferA143.org.uk/
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Wednesday 19 June 2013
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