Mother joins road campaign
Saturday, 6th July 2002.
A MOTHER whose daughter died in a road accident 10 years ago, prompting the installation of traffic humps, has joined the campaign against the speed cushions which have replaced them.
Tina Bailey, of Falcon Close, Haverhill, has joined Chris Cullum and other residents of the Chalkstone estate in opposing the speed cushions, which they say do not work and have created a racetrack near their homes off Chalkstone Way.
Now they have met MP Richard Spring to enlist his help in their campaign against the speed cushions.
Mrs Bailey's daughter Carrie was nine when she was killed in an accident while walking to Chalkstone Middle School. Speed humps were provided, but were very unpopular and said to damage the suspension on some vehicles.
Earlier this year, speed cushions were put in to replace them, but residents say they are a waste of money as they do not work and drivers simply position their wheels to avoid them.
Mrs Bailey said: "The humps did their job in slowing down traffic, so why change them? What is more important, inconvenience to motorists or a child's life? I don't want anyone else to go through what I did."
Mr Cullum said traffic on the estate had got even worse because HGVs and other vehicles were using it to avoid roadworks in the town centre.
"The cushions just don't work," he said. "People just straddle them. The traffic up here has gone from reasonably fast to extremely fast it is like a racetrack.
"I cannot believe they have spent £40,000 on this. It is a complete waste of money. It is no improvement whatsoever. It has made matters worse."
Richard Spring said he had received a number of complaints about the speed cushions from his constituents.
"When I receive a spate of complaints I like to see the situation myself," he said. "If necessary, I will call a further site meeting to invite the county council to review the matter and discuss the difficulties with residents."
Steve Boor, of St Edmundsbury Borough Council, said the aim of the scheme was to achieve an average speed of 20mph and this had been achieved by similar ones elsewhere.
The scheme would be monitored and looked at again if speeding was a problem.
Tina Bailey, of Falcon Close, Haverhill, has joined Chris Cullum and other residents of the Chalkstone estate in opposing the speed cushions, which they say do not work and have created a racetrack near their homes off Chalkstone Way.
Now they have met MP Richard Spring to enlist his help in their campaign against the speed cushions.
Mrs Bailey's daughter Carrie was nine when she was killed in an accident while walking to Chalkstone Middle School. Speed humps were provided, but were very unpopular and said to damage the suspension on some vehicles.
Earlier this year, speed cushions were put in to replace them, but residents say they are a waste of money as they do not work and drivers simply position their wheels to avoid them.
Mrs Bailey said: "The humps did their job in slowing down traffic, so why change them? What is more important, inconvenience to motorists or a child's life? I don't want anyone else to go through what I did."
Mr Cullum said traffic on the estate had got even worse because HGVs and other vehicles were using it to avoid roadworks in the town centre.
"The cushions just don't work," he said. "People just straddle them. The traffic up here has gone from reasonably fast to extremely fast it is like a racetrack.
"I cannot believe they have spent £40,000 on this. It is a complete waste of money. It is no improvement whatsoever. It has made matters worse."
Richard Spring said he had received a number of complaints about the speed cushions from his constituents.
"When I receive a spate of complaints I like to see the situation myself," he said. "If necessary, I will call a further site meeting to invite the county council to review the matter and discuss the difficulties with residents."
Steve Boor, of St Edmundsbury Borough Council, said the aim of the scheme was to achieve an average speed of 20mph and this had been achieved by similar ones elsewhere.
The scheme would be monitored and looked at again if speeding was a problem.
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