Driven round the bend by speeding
AVERAGE speed cameras will be installed on the Pirbright Bends in the hope of preventing severe accidents in one of the worst areas in Surrey for casualty rates.
According to Surrey County Council data, there has been one fatal, 13 serious and 38 slight collisions on the winding roads joining Pirbright and Brookwood to Mytchett in the five years up to the end of May this year.
The twists and turns have a variety of speed limits ranging from 30mph to 60mph, and the Guildford joint committee has agreed they will be consolidated into a single limit of 40mph throughout.
Conservative county councillor Paul Deach (Frimley Green & Mytchett) said: “I’ve lost count how many times I’ve seen cars in ditches; there can be life-changing injuries so we just need to try to get people to slow down.”
He said speeding was the subject of a large number of complaints from residents, and the Pirbright Bends had “become a destination for dangerous drivers in cars and on motorcycles who literally treat the road as a race track”.
Cllr Deach added: “Residents have told me in no uncertain terms that they want to see dangerous driving tackled.”
Most accidents have involved drivers losing control of their vehicle and hitting trees at the side of the road. In 2013, the county council tried to address this by reducing the national speed limit to a combination of 30mph and 40mph on the most bendy areas.
Duncan Knox, the county council’s road safety and active travel team manager, said: “That had a small effect but sadly there are still too many collisions on this stretch… one of the worst casualty rates in the whole county of Surrey.”
Making the stretch a consistent 40mph will mean the 30mph Gapemouth Road and Mytchett Place Road will increase, as well as reducing the 60mph Grange Road and Stanley Hill.
Having one limit throughout will allow enforcement through average speed cameras, to be installed within the next five months. The £300,000 cameras are being funded by Surrey Police with revenue from speed awareness courses. Average speed camera schemes already installed in the county have reduced collisions by 47% on average.
Surrey Heath Local Committee has also agreed to extend the 30mph limit zone on Mytchett Place Road further towards Mytchett to include the hazardous 90-degree bend by the access to Keogh Barracks, which is currently 40mph.