A26 Collisions
Your parish committee have long been campaigning for a reduction in the speed limit between Rose Hill and the Little Horsted roundabout in order to address the poor visibility for driveways and the junction at Bradford Lane/A26/Horsted Lane.
Michael Higgs the Senior Road Safety Officer recently sent us this response:
It is recognised nationally that the majority of drivers travel at the speed they consider to be safe for the conditions of the road. The national guidance therefore recommends that local highway authorities aim to align the speed limit so the average speed of the drivers is at, or just below the posted speed limit. This is because the average speed of the drivers reflects the speed that most drivers consider to be safe to travel for the character and appearance of the road.
The speed limit on this part of the A26 has been carefully considered in the past. At his meeting on 23 February 2015 the Lead Member for Transport and Environment carefully considered a petition for a lower speed limit on this part of the A26. At the meeting it was agreed that the existing 50mph speed limit was the most appropriate for this part of the A26. The speed surveys that were carried out on this part of the A26 indicated the average speed of the drivers to be 44.0mph southbound and 42.4mph northbound with 85th percentile (the speed that 85 percent of drivers are travelling below) of 49.8mph southbound and 49.0mph northbound. The results of the speed surveys that were carried out indicate that the existing 50mph speed limit is the most appropriate for this part of the A26. As a result it was agreed that the existing 50mph speed limit is the most appropriate for the road.
If we were to post a 40mph speed limit on this part of the A26 it would be below the average speed of the drivers. It is our experience, and the experience of other local highway authorities nationally that posting a speed limit below the average speed of the drivers does not produce the corresponding reduction in traffic speeds leading to a poorly complied with speed limit with most of the drivers travelling in excess of the speed limit.
A lower speed limit may also encourage more overtaking as the faster drivers may choose to take a risk to overtake any of the slower drivers that were respecting the lower speed limit.
I hope this helps to clarify why the existing 50mph speed limit is considered to be the most appropriate for this part of the A26.
We do not accept this decision and will continue to campaign for a speed reduction to 40mph. One of our councillors, Wendy Sim, has been instrumental in highlighting the dangers present along the A26 in Little Horsted to highways and the local council and has asked for any parishioners to email in incident details to the website.
For those interested, this is a link to a sussex collision data page which goes back five years:
3 Comments
Thank you for continuing to work on a road safety campaign. In our section of the A26 the high trees and bends create limited visibility for driveways. In fact the speed of drivers means I take extra care to indicate early when turning into Worth Lane to help avoid a collison. It also means that on exiting the lane I have to take extra care as drivers tend to speed and appear very quickly over the brow.
We need to record any accidents on the A26 to present to Highways at a later date to try and strengthen our case for a speed reduction or other measures to improve our safety. Not all minor accidents are reported so don\’t come to their attention.
Starting from May this year we have:
02/05/17 accident adjacent to Greenboughs at the double bend
03/05/17 accident at crossroads (car crossing A26 from Bradfords Lane)
?/05/17 car written off exiting Wicklands Farmhouse
13/07/17 serious accident at Rose Hill (driver of one vehicle drifted onto opposite carriageway hitting two oncoming vehicles)
Please can anyone post any details of any other incidents they know of.
15/12/17 a Ford (got the wheel hub), has crashed into our boundary fence, knocking half of it down, and was seen being towed away without owning up to this leaving us with an insurance excess bill of £500 and the difficulty of organising the fence to be replaced. Either speeding or on the phone….