Petition - Pedestrian Crossing - Sullivan Road, Brighton Hill

Thank you for the petition requesting that the County Council introduce safety improvements on Sullivan Road, Basingstoke.

Keeping Hampshire’s roads safe and well maintained is a priority for the County Council and the Safer Roads Team do this by targeting locations where there are known recurring patterns of reported injury accidents and where the introduction of traffic and safety measures will assist in reducing casualties. We have access to the Police database of all injury accidents reported throughout Hampshire and this is used to formulate our casualty reduction scheme programmes. Limited resources mean that outside of these categories we are unable to routinely consider measures at the many sites referred to us with perceived safety concerns, but where there are no treatable injury accident patterns.

This location has been investigated by officers in the Safer Roads Team and we can confirm that a review of recent incident data has highlighted that there are no current significant injury accident patterns at this location to justify allocation of our limited resources. Typically between 2,500 and 3,000 people are injured on County Council maintained roads each year and it is those less fortunate locations where collisions are occurring that we must focus our resources.

Traffic speed enforcement is the responsibility of the Police, including speed camera enforcement. Concerns about traffic travelling appreciably above the speed limit can be reported to them via their web site or by calling 101. https://www.hampshire.police.uk/. Officers managing the high profile works at the Brighton Hill Roundabout have also agreed to consider the use deployments as a temporary measure on the route whilst these works are in progress. Furthermore, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council manage a programme of short term vehicle activated speed limit reminder sign deployments and may consider requests for additional deployments once the works are complete.

Sullivan Road in the vicinity of the Brighton Hill Centre is subject to traffic calming in the form of two table type road humps that also provide an informal crossing facility. The main crossing point outside the Health Centre is signed and marked, but the locations will be inspected to review the condition of the feature. With regard to the bus stop, this is conveniently placed to serve the Brighton Hill Centre and whilst the bus is stopped for short periods for passengers to board and alight pedestrians using the informal crossing point as well as passing drivers will need to be mindful of the surrounding activity.

The comments on school travel are noted. Schools in Hampshire are encouraged to carry out school travel planning, which is a good way of being able to identify where road safety concerns exist and the locations where children, parents and staff experience the most difficulty on the travel to school journey. This process helps us to review the needs of pedestrians and other road users with the aim of improving safety, encouraging walking and cycling, exploring travel options. Engagement in this process can help to attract investment for the development of initiatives. The Safer Roads Team will liaise with our School Travel Planning Team to establish the position with the local schools who may provide advice and support for travel planning should this be required. Additionally you may wish to note that our Road Safety Education team offer road safety education and training aimed at helping children improve their road skills. The Road Safety Education team deliver specific training and works closely with our partner organisations including the Police and Fire and Rescue services to coordinate these activities. Further information is available on our web site https://www.hants.gov.uk/transport/roadsafety or through e-mailing [email protected].

I trust that it helps explain the County Council’s position.

King regards

Councillor Russell Oppenheimer
Executive Member for Highways Operations