SPEEDING drivers going the wrong way down a one-way street close to Reading town centre has led to call for action to tackle the problem.
Residents of Francis Street in Katesgrove have signed a petition wanting Reading Borough Council to clamp down on dangerous driving. They say a car was written off by a council vehicle, and want anti-speeding measures installed.
Ian Fullbrook presented the petition at a meeting of the council’s traffic management sub-committee held last month.
He said Francis Street was “not built for motor vehicles” and residents have come to expect ‘scrapes and scratches’ to their cars due to the narrow width of the road.
“The reason why we started our campaign was that one of our residents had their car written off by a vehicle travelling the wrong way down the street,” he explained. “Unfortunately, it was also a council vehicle.
“In due course, we started campaigning about the issue of vehicles travelling the wrong way down the street and crucially speeding.
“Francis Street is very narrow, but it’s also straight and some careless drivers see that as an opportunity to put their foot down and go as fast as they can. Obviously, the faster you travel the more chance there is in a car of things going wrong.”
Mr Fullbrook said that the council vehicle was a bin lorry, and he praised the council for acquiring an ultra-narrow bin lorry, which was added to the refuse collection fleet in April, but: “We are still plagued by people driving the wrong way down the street sometimes and people speeding”.
The council’s highways team will investigate a solution and would need to allocate funding for any possible works.
Cllr John Ennis (Labour, Southcote), lead councillor for transport said: “I totally understand the situation and we need to put it into further works going forward. I can’t put a timescale on it, to be honest, but I think it’s important.”
At the meeting, committee members agreed that Francis Street should be added to the council’s ‘Requests for Traffic Management Measures’ list for highways officers to investigate and design road safety measures for implementation.
A highways management team report on suggested measures is set to be presented at the next traffic management sub-committee meeting in November.
