Campaigners call for speed limit to be slashed on ‘crazy’ stretch of Pinchbeck road

Campaigners are calling for the speed limit to be slashed on a ‘crazy’ stretch of road.

Residents shared their concerns about racing motorbikes, speeding vehicles and fast-moving lorries travelling along Glenside South at Pinchbeck Parish Council’s November meeting on Monday last week.

They are calling for the 60mph limit to be cut to 40mph along the tight stretch of road which has the River Glen on one side, homes and trees close close by on the other and no footpath.

”We’ve seen some accidents up there, it’s crazy. People in the river, people in the fields. Just look at the holes in the hedges, that’s vehicles going through them,” said resident Christopher Griffin.

“I’ve got a young daughter and a young son that I’ve never let cycle on the road. It’s too fast and too dangerous.

“My daughter has to go to school. She’s supposed to walk up the road to get to the bus stop. She doesn’t, I have to driver her as it’s too dangerous.”

Fellow campaigner David Rouse told the meeting he’d had two wing mirrors knocked off his van by passing vehicles, one of them a lorry.

“There’s nowhere I can go. It was frightening with the lorry as it just didn’t stop.

"On a Sunday you get the motorbikes going down there and they are racing. You can’t take your dogs out for a walk because of the speed of the traffic that comes down there.”

Neighbour John Allen, who has led the campaign, highlighted issues such as HGVs attempting to squeeze past one another and restricted visibility for people pulling out of their drives.

“All the old properties from Herring Bridge to Money Bridge are adjacent to the road. The width is restricted, two heavy goods vehicles cannot pass each other without encroaching on private property,” explained Mr Allen, who pointed out the road in front of his home is 5.1m wide ‘between extremeties’.

“Lorries have a gross weight of some 44 tonnes, the width excluding wing mirrors is 2.55m. The width of a refrigerated vehicle is 2.6m. I don’t think you need me to tell you 2.6m times two is 5.2m – wider than the road outside our house.

“We cannot ban the traffic, it only transfers the problem elsewhere. But we can control it.

“This current speed limit along for most of the distance is 60mph. I calculate that travelling from Herring Bridge to Money Bridge at 40mph would add 37 seconds to the journey time.

“If you do that twice a day it’s 1 minute 14 seconds - it is not much to save a life.”

Coun Terry Moore offered some hope to campaigners as he shared correspondence from Lincolnshire County Council – who determine speed limits in the county – regarding recent traffic monitoring checks in the area.

The message stated readings alongside Glenside South showed mean speeds of 38mph in the 60mph zone and mean speeds of 32mph in the 150m stretch of Glenside South which is a 40mph zone.

“I took this to mean we can (potentially change the speed limits),” Coun Moore said.

Coun Philip Tweddell suggested lobbying for the adjacent Glenside North to also become a 40mph zone.

“Drivers are drivers and otherwise they’ll just go on the other side,” he said.

“The road’s not fit for HGVs, end of. And that’s coming from an ex-HGV driver.”

Another idea suggested in the meeting was to make both Glenside North and South one way roads.

However, Coun Audrey Gregory – who lives on the road and says her home rattles when lorries speed by, once even causing a wardrobe to crack – believes that plan would bring fresh problems.

“If they know there's no oncoming traffic they’ll race up and down them and time how long it takes,” she said.

Offering his sympathy to residents was council chairman James Avery who said: “I use Glenside South and even a car versus a lorry is no contest, you either slow down or stop.

“I’ll pick this up personally with highways.”

What do you think? Should the speed limit be cut? Are there any other roads that are a cause for concern? Let us know in the comments below