A40 road users unhappy with speed cameras at crossing

A SURVEY carried out at a crossing where newly installed speed cameras have caught a huge number of motorists has been panned.

Denham Parish Council carried out a survey of pedestrians using the new crossing on the A40, which was put in place earlier this year.

It was installed after the footbridge which had previously allowed pedestrians to cross the road had to be taken down for repairs after a lorry collided with it.

Since then, safety measures have been put in place including reducing the traffic from three lanes to two, changing the speed limit from 50mph to 30mph, and the installation of two new speed cameras on the road.

This in turn led to more than 1,000 drivers being caught exceeding the new limit in the first four days of the cameras being in place, with drivers saying that there were insufficient signs telling them of the new limit.

To determine the future of the site, Bucks County Council asked Denham Parish Council to carry out a survey at the crossing to ask people what they thought.

In the latest parish council newsletter, a statement from the council says: "The survey revealed that the overwhelming majority of users of the crossing, including school children and the elderly, liked it and wanted it to remain. These statistics have been presented to the County Council and will form part of the decision making."


However, drivers who regularly use the road are unhappy with the survey.

Mick Morgan, who travels on the road every day, said: "The survey doesn't reflect what drivers want. If the current crossing stays then so will the speed cameras, which means that more money will be made for the county council.


"Of course pedestrians are going to want the crossing to stay, but drivers don't, and it is terrible that they haven't been asked. They should have asked everyone who is affected by the crossing, not just one section of people."

Margaret Skelton of Denham Parish Council, said: "We were asked by the county council to do a survey of people at the crossing, and that was the survey that the parish council undertook.

"We carried out the survey on behalf of Bucks County Council."

A decision on the crossing is set to be made at the end of October.

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