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There was submitted a petition from Mr Alastair MacLennan in the following terms: -
“Petition Statement
The purpose of this statement is to bring to your attention the speeding traffic in
Oxford Road. There are now young children living in Oxford Road, as well as visiting
grandchildren, and our concern is that one day there will be an accident in the road
that will result in a fatality or at the very least a severe injury to one of the Oxford
Road residents. There is a sign at one end of Oxford Road as well as the other end,
suggesting that twenty is plenty, to which no one pays the slightest heed. I have no
means of measuring the speed of some of the cars and vans, however I would
suggest that they are travelling at more than the speed limit of 30mph, let alone the
suggested speed of 20mph. There has been in the past, two accidents at the
junction of Oxford Road and Cambridge Road that I’m aware of, when thankfully it
was only cars that were involved, as well as cars coming off Paisley Road into
Oxford Road.
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, pay no attention to the red light,
as there are no traffic officers available to police the junction. Also recently, 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, make us ask the
question, is the road sufficiently strong to accept the weight of those vehicles. We
fully understand that refuse vehicles and the like, require to use the road in the
nature of their business, but not as a shortcut. That coupled with cars parked on both
sides of the road, it doesn’t leave a lot of space in the middle of the road for the
larger vehicles passing each other, as well as the cars.
Action taken prior to resolve the issues.
The action taken prior to the submission of this petition has been, to engage with our
local councillors in the past, the Police, our MSP and the Local MP, and it’s as a
result of the last contact with our MP, Mr Gavin Newlands , that we are taking this
action. On one occasion, when we had the police at the door discussing the problem,
a car went by, well over the speed limit, and it was noted by the Police officers.
What we are suggesting.
Is that traffic calming be installed to reduce the excessive speeding, and hopefully
deter the road being used as a shortcut by larger vehicles and HGV vehicles”.
The report intimated that the Transportation & Development Manager advised that the Council was working on a policy that would outline the criteria for all Traffic Calming requests. The criteria first examined current speeds, accident rates and the traffic volume, from the information gathered would determine if the location justified a more detailed assessment. If a further assessment was required and carried out, this would allow officers to prioritise areas most in need and rank in order of priority.
If funding became available, work would begin on a prioritised list.
The report also advised that for this reason, it would assist to have a speed survey, traffic volumes recorded and look at the accident statistics on Oxford Road. The results of these surveys would identify if further action was required.
The report indicated that currently the 20mph twenty’s plenty signs at either end of Oxford Road were advisory only and therefore could not be enforced. It was intended to begin a rolling programme to change these signs throughout Renfrewshire to mandatory 20mph
The Board heard from the Petitioner and his supporter Mr Malcolm Robbie in support of the Petition.
Councillor Adam-McGregor, seconded by Councillor Hughes, moved that following
the undertaking of a sample speed survey a report would be brought to a future meeting of the Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board for consideration. This was agreed unanimously.
DECIDED: That following the undertaking of a sample speed survey a report be brought to a future meeting of the Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board for consideration.