For the past week motorists driving down a lane in Westonbirt, Gloucestershire have been watched.
The monitoring eye is not that of a speeding camera nor is it the police’s – it is thatof one woman, Virginia Lugard-Brayne, who has taken matters into her own hands because she fears for the safety of riders in the area.
Dressed in a bright reflective yellow tabard and equipped with a radar gun, which she borrowed from Gloucestershire County Council, Virginia has been checking the speed of traffic along the lane.
“The lane is only about the width of a lorry and a half, yet I’ve recorded a car going at 74mph and a lorry doing 51mph,” she says.
“On one day in four hours I monitored around 300 vehicles – there are around 15 lorries an hour. It is very busy.
“Certainly no one is approaching riders at the British Horse Society recommended speed of 15mph.”
Virginia, who looks after convalescing and retired horses, is liaising with the council’s road safety team leader, Gary Handley.
None of her records can be used to prosecute but she has been asked to write to a lorry company which has been seen to use the road a lot to ask for their agreement in finding ways in which both sides can use the road. She is also going to ask the council to reduce the speed and weight limits.
“The data may also help us decide which warning signs can be used and it may help in raising awareness in the local media,” says Gary.
Horse & Hound is running its own road safety survey in this week’s magazine (12 July). Record your experiences to help in the campaign for make roads safer for riders.
