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Delyth Dharmabandhu with her horse Jack and Sunil Dharmabandhu are campaiging to get the speed reduced in Easthampstead Road
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Cyclist campaigns for reduction in speed in Easthampstead Road

By Jon Nurse
October 02, 2012

A cyclist is campaigning for a lower speed limit on a stretch of winding road he fears may claim lives.

Sunil Dharmabandhu is planning to launch a petition calling for the 60mph speed limit in Easthampstead Road between its junctions with Heathlands Road and Old Wokingham Road to be halved to 30mph.

The 66-year-old, of Reading Road, Winnersh, said: “It’s a very nasty stretch. The road as far as Heathlands Road is 40mph, and that’s fair enough, but then the speed limit increases when the road becomes even more tricky and winding with horse riders and cyclists.

“People do drive along there in a reckless manner which could be an accident waiting to happen.

“I go that way every single day and have had several near misses with people coming quickly around corners. It’s unlit as well.”

Mr Dharmabandhu, who also wants illuminated signs installed, raised his concerns with Wokingham Borough Council officers who said they had reviewed speed surveys, signage and the number of accidents on the road and deemed it to be relatively safe.

Mr Dharmabandhu said: “The response I got was like a politician trying to wriggle his way out of a problem. Statistics can be used in so many ways to prove a point.

“It’s like they are waiting for someone to be killed before they do something.

“It would not take a colossal sum of money to put in some illuminated signs.

“Just imagine what could happen if a horse got startled when a car comes round a bend too fast.

“I know some people are scared to use the road for horse riding.”

The campaigner was knocked off his bike by a car in the 40mph stretch of Easthampstead Road last month. He said: “I don’t want that to happen to anybody.

“If that can happen on a straight stretch, just think what could happen on a dangerous stretch.”

The driver of the car was not arrested but has been told by police to take a driver improvement course.

Matthew Gould, Wokingham Borough Council team leader for traffic, transport and road safety, said: “All roads have the potential to be dangerous, however the council has a duty of care to ensure the safety of the users of these roads so we have to prioritise our spend to provide best value for money.

“Because of the good safety record in this road, it is not proposed to implement any further engineering measures at this time.”

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Most recent user comments 8 of 8

That stretch of road is very similar to many stretched of road not just around Wokingham but around the country with drivers forgetting that they are driving a ton of metal and the cyclist or horse rider has no protection other than their wits and a helmet. What we need is for car drivers to really understand how intimidating it feels for a car to whizz past at 60 mph often in a dangerous way to simply cut a few minutes or sometimes even just seconds from their journey.

I used to commute on bike but having had one to many near misses with dangerous drivers and having been knocked off twice I now walk for 20 minutes rather than cycle for 5 as its infinitely safer and I am more likely to get to my destination.

Cutting speed limits in one area will only move the danger zone somewhere else and if a driver is ignorant enough they will still speed. What is required is a cyclist awareness campaign, after all they do it for Motorbikes why not for other users of the road.

wokeyblokey
10/10/2012 at 11:50

I would also consider the queue jumping - driving down the wrong side of the road just before the level crossing, it's a double white line and a 30 limit which everyone seams to over look, never mind Waterloo Road 30 MPH limit which its blatantly ignored.

Local Woky, Wokingham
03/10/2012 at 00:09

I agree that part of this road is dangerous.

Cutting back some of the vegetation on the blind corners would help.

The other dangerous thing about this road is the junction with Old Wokingham Road, especially when turning right from Easthampstead Road.

Mark Savill, Wokingham
02/10/2012 at 12:44

That is speculation DT, the piece does not mention any such thing.

To many of us, the police have become little more than an extension to HMRC: collecting cash for the government. That undermines the credibility of the criminal justice system.

It is NOT, in my opinion, the role of the police to act as investigator, judge, jury and cash collector. If we have too few officers to do the job, we should recruit more, rather than spend money on many of the silly government jobs that we always seem to have money for.

Tonk, Wokingham
02/10/2012 at 12:31

I think the driver did commit an offence, Tonk. And it seems the policeman must've offered the driver three points or a fine and a course. If the police were to arrest every driver who acted like a bleedin' idiot, we'd need ten times as many prisons as we currently have. (That's not to say I'm against it - I'm sick of the standard of driving on the roads. Apparently, 1/2 of all indicator lights out there don't work. nor do wing mirrors. or peoples' brains.)

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
02/10/2012 at 12:10

"""""The driver of the car was not arrested but has been told by police to take a driver improvement course.""""

If an offence had been committed, then the driver should have been reported/prosecuted: if no offence had been detected, then no action should be taken.....Is it really the role of the police to act as some kind of super Nanny? What gives the copper, perhaps little more than a kid himself with little driving experience, the right/power to order someone that has committed no offence and has obtained a driving license by reaching and demonstrating to an examiner, the required standards as defined in law, to take a course?

Tonk, Wokingham
02/10/2012 at 11:15

I'd rather the money was spent at known blackspots e.g. Red light jumping at Winnersh Crossroads.

Woky Local
02/10/2012 at 09:46

I have some sympathy with this-the blind bends north of Redlake lane being particularly nasty especially when heading north. However it's not a zero sum game, and if money is spent here, it doesn't get spent somewhere else. And the argument that 'It’s like they are waiting for someone to be killed before they do something" is always trotted out but people ignore the flip side of this, which is that if there is no history of serious accidents or collisions on this road then the level of danger would appear to be one of perception rather than reality.