Put the brakes on speeding drivers before someone is killed
Residents demand action as motorists try to beat lights
Drivers going at ‘ incredible’ speeds on a residential road in Renfrew could soon have the brakes put on their bad driving.
A petition from Oxford Road resident Alistair MacLennan - which was signed by 60 people - has called for traffic calming measures to be implemented before someone is killed.
Concerned campaigners claim some speeding drivers consistently try and beat traffic lights at the junction of Oxford Road and Paisley Road.
And HGVs and school buses are causing some houses to vibrate.
Mr MacLennan said no one “paid the slightest heed” to the suggested limit of 20mph, with cars regularly travelling at more than 30mph.
At a meeting of the petitions board this week, councillors resolved to carry out a sample speed survey to investigate the problem before compiling a report for further consideration.
Mr MacLennan, who has lived in Oxford Road for around 40 years, told elected members: “Ever since the introduction of traffic lights at the junction of Oxford Road and Paisley Road, we regularly observe cars and vans increase their speed in order to make sure they catch the lights and, in quite a few cases, they pay no attention to the red light.
“We now observe school buses using the road as a shortcut and, along with the use of the road by HGV trucks, we feel some of the houses vibrating.
“Since putting in the petition, we’ve had a couple of motorbikes go by and one of them did a wheelie from the start of Oxford Road to Paisley Road down past Cambridge Road.
“The junction at Oxford Road and Cambridge Road can be quite dangerous and there have been two accidents there.
“My next door neighbour had her car written off by a car coming round from Paisley Road into Oxford Road.
“We’ve got grandkids coming to the house and you don’t want them to go anywhere near the street because cars are flying up and down it.
“The speeds are incredible. We’re really not exaggerating.”
In a bid to tackle the issue of HGVs hurtling down the road, Councillor Andy Steel questioned whether goalposts to stop vehicles of a certain height going down the street could be put in place.
However, transportation and development manager Mark Higginbotham said this would be difficult and instead suggested sending down a staff member with a speed gun.
He said: “It’s highly unlikely we would put up goalposts to prevent the legitimate use of the public road network. This would be almost impossible for us to enforce. We need to do some factual surveys.”
It was agreed by the board the speed check should take place between approximately 8am and 10am and 4pm and 6.30pm.
Mr Higginbotham said if more than 15 per cent of cars were found to be breaking the speed limit, then some sort of traffic calming action would be taken.
A report on the issue will be brought back to a future meeting of the infrastructure, land, and environment board.
We regularly observe cars and vans increase their speed to make sure they catch the lights