A long residential road in Reading where drivers have been accused of ‘playing chicken with kids’ and speeding at ’70mph’ is set to get a 20mph limit and speed humps.
Northcourt Avenue in the university area is a long road home to properties, a doctors surgery and two shops.
Due to concerns about speeding, neighbours have made requests for traffic calming measures.
A 20mph speed limit will soon be imposed on the road, with a total of 17 speed humps being added to it.
Of those, 15 will be placed in Northcourt Avenue and two being placed in Wellington Avenue, with speed tables at the entrances to Northcourt Avenue at Christchurch Road and Cressingham Road.
The measures have been designed following requests from the Northcourt Avenue Residents Association, with Reading Borough Council’s highways department devising the scheme.
A statutory consultation into the measures received 32 responses, with 25 people supporting the changes and six people objecting.
Supporters of the change claimed drivers reach speeds well over the current 30mph limit, with current conditions posing a risk of life without speed calming measures.
One neighbour wrote: “Traffic on the road is currently dangerous and the speed limit is often ignored with speeds up to 60-70 mph.
“Hopefully, this measure will make the road safer.”
A parent wrote: “The proposal makes the road safer – my kids can be allowed to go outside in the front by themselves, as it is far less likely they will be killed.
“Currently, I worry even when I am with them because cars go so fast, sometimes on the wrong side of the road.
“If we don’t have these measures, someone will eventually lose their life.”
Thames Valley Police acknowledged the request while remaining neutral.
The speed measures were discussed at a recent council meeting.
Councillor Andrew Hornsby-Smith (Labour, Church), who represents the area, said: “I very much welcome this scheme. It’s a scheme that’s been arrived at after extensive consultation with the local residents’ association, and it has, as we can see from the representations, got overwhelming support.”
He then addressed objections from neighbours who called for either no humps or a reduced amount to be installed.
According to Crashmap UK, there has been one serious and three slight accidents along Northcourt Avenue between 2019 and 2021.
Cllr Hornsby-Smith said: “Arguing for no humps but a 20mph limit is I think ignoring the reality of the accidents, or simply just playing chicken with kids on this relatively straight road.
“The spacing of 75 metres between humps is the most efficient way of slowing cars down without them slowing down and speeding up, creating problems in that way.
“The argument that we need fewer humps is in my view, bogus.”
The council’s traffic management sub-committee unanimously agreed to move ahead with the measures at the meeting on Wednesday, June 11.
The scheme costs £200,000, funded from community infrastructure levy (CIL) raised from developer contributions from planning applications.
The limit and speed humps are timetabled to be installed in the summer or winter of this year.
