LONDON ENGLAND – There are parts of a busy length of a road in Slough where the speed limit has been dropped to almost 30MPH. there has been a few discussions about this for a little while now because the road has been the reason to many accidents. Dropping the speed limit is one way in avoiding said accidents from happening in the future.
The Slough Borough council are going and asking the residents what their thoughts are on the speed limit set. This route would include the gateway to the Heathrow Airport. Some parts of the A4 could change from 40mph to 30 whereas the Colnbrook By-pass between Sutton Lane and Lakeside Road could be changed from the national speed limit to 40.
The 30mph could come into force in Bath Road between Lake End Road and Twinches Lane, and between London Road near Fox Road and Sutton Lane. Other sections of the A4, such as the 50mph limit on the Colnbrook by-pass between Lakeside Road and the western end of the bridge over the M25, will remain as is.
The council, is to bring the existing speed limits in line with current standards and guidance, as well as reduce the ‘danger’ of accidents along the stretch of the key route. “There isn’t enough space to revise the road layout, and reducing the speed limit would reduce the risk of serious injuries occurring in these types of collisions,” it stated.
If given the go-ahead, the local authority will use funds from the £1.7m it received from the government’s £3bn scheme with the specific purpose to reduce serious accidents and deaths on local A roads. People living in the area and motorists have until October 7 to have their say on the proposed changes.
According to Crash Map, the A4 has seen hundreds of reported accidents, minor, major, and fatal, since 2011 – with Bath Road seeing the most crashes. Across the A4, it has seen five fatalities and nearly 100 serious accidents between 2011 and 2021. Bath Road saw one fatal accident and 45 serious ones, Wellington Street had two fatalities and 2 serious accidents, and two fatalities and 19 serious crashes were reported on London Road
Part of the A4 has also seen a major change in recent history. In 2020, the council introduced a bus lane between Dover Road and Uxbridge Road in order to free up space for buses to get to stops faster and to encourage people to take up public transport for shorter journeys to ease congestion on the road.
