A group of Saddleworth residents are reaching for their speed guns to put the brake on speeding motorists.
You could be part of the ‘posse’ looking to make the roads of Greenfield and Grasscroft a safer place.
In the coming months concerned locals will take to the streets, with the backing of Greater Manchester Police, to implement a Neighbourhood Speed Watch.
All evidence gathered will be presented to Oldham Council’s Highways team to persuade them traffic calming measures are needed on the village’s main routes including: Manchester Road, Chew Valley Road, Well-i-Hole and Oldham Road.
So far approaches by the Greenfield and Grasscroft Residents’ Association (GGRA) to Oldham’s Unity Partnership’s Traffic and Network Management team have fallen on deaf ears.
Now, the force is with GGRA after Parish Councillor Jamie Curley liaised with GMP to enable the community group to participate in the Neighbourhood Speed Watch scheme.
GGRA chairman, Dr Andrew Taylor, said: “Many residents of Greenfield and Grasscroft are of the opinion that traffic problems along Chew Valley Road are more hazardous than in most other areas. Vehicle speed along the relatively straight road is one key element.
“Anyone who knows me – as Chairman of GGRA or not – knows I enjoy driving and love ‘getting a move on’ where it is legal, safe and proper.
“‘Getting a move on’ along Chew Valley Road however, is none of those things, beset as it is with variable carriageway width, intermittent sidewalks, extensive on-road parking and the total lack of pedestrian crossings over its three-quarter mile length.
“We have even lost our school crossing patrols.
“Experience in other communities has shown that very often many of the worst speeders are local residents, and younger drivers are disproportionately represented here.
“Several wider, calmer roads across the Oldham Borough – with speed humps and with fewer primary school children crossing them – now have permanent 20mph limits, while Chew Valley Road is a nominal 30mph limit zone with the limit frequently exceeded.
“Traffic calming measures like speed humps are definitely not the solution for Chew Valley Road.
“Road signs and possibly a ‘school run time’ 20mph zone might be possible but nothing will happen without proof of need.
“One way to prove the need for this sort of expenditure on highways is to have a death, or a few serious injuries.
“But most of us can see these happening sometime and very definitely don’t want to see them actually happen.
“A community speed watch programme could provide the evidence of need to take some form of action.”
A minimum of 12 people will be required to participate in the Neighbourhood Speed Watch scheme and all will receive training from GMP.
They will be equipped with a radar, two long sleeved hi-vis jackets and two signs with the wording ‘Neighbourhood Speed Watch’.
Anyone wishing to take part should email: info@ggra.co.uk
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