I was nearly killed on run with dog through village, says TV adventurer

BEN Fogle has told how he was almost killed by a delivery driver while out running.

Fogle, 50, was on the narrow road through the rural village, which has a number of blind bends but a speed limit of 60mph.

In a letter to this week’s Henley Standard, he said: “I nearly died yesterday, not on Everest or in some remote jungle. Not on an ocean or in a desert, but on a small, single-track lane outside my home.

“A delivery driver driving at the perfectly legal, but obviously dangerous, 60mph careered around one of the many blind bends, threw on its brakes and skidded to a halt just a few feet from me and my dog.

“My life flashed before my eyes just as it had done when my boat capsized on the Atlantic Ocean and when my oxygen bottle exploded on Everest but this was on a dog walk outside my home.”

The writer and broadcaster’s boat capsized while he was taking part in the 2005/06 Atlantic Rowing Race with Olympic rowing champion James Cracknell and his oxygen tank exploded while he was climbing Mount Everest in 2018.

Fogle said: “Given the things I have done and the risks I have taken, it feels a little ironic that my own near-death experience should happen so close to home.”

He said he would prefer not to run along the road but had no choice because it was the only way to reach a decreasing number of paths and bridleways.

“A single-track road meanders through this happy little village,” he said. “The only way I can reach the limited footpaths is on the same single-track road that I must share with 60mph delivery drivers.

“We have no pavements, which means the road is our pavement, footpath and bridleway. We share it with cyclists, dogs, walkers, children, tractors, cars and delivery drivers.

Fogle said he worried for the safety of his children, who had also experienced “near-encounters” on the road.

He said: “You can drive at my daughter on her horse or the dogs on their walk at 60mph. While my daughter rides her pony along the road because it is the only way to reach the fewer and fewer bridleways, delivery drivers travel at the legal 60mph around blind bends to meet home delivery time targets.

“While my son cycles on his bike with the dogs, day visitors, blindly following sat-navs and the 60mph speed limit, career along the single track pavement, sorry, road.

“And now I imagine my children walking along the same pavement, sorry, road.”

Fogle added: “I love living here in this rural idyll but I don’t want to die because our local council doesn’t see fit to implement a 20mph limit for a community that relies on the road as our pavement too.

“I am a risk-taker, so I don’t say this lightly. Someone is going to get killed in our village.

“We are not alone. There are countless other small villages out there which also live with 60mph speed limits through the heart of their community.

“It is common sense to have a 20pmh limit. Our local councillor has tried to no avail. Please help us before we lose someone.”

The Fawley Parish Meeting, which is like a parish council, asked Buckinghamshire Council to have the speed limit reduced to 30mph but was turned down as the accident record on the road didn’t justify the change.

Mark Turner, chairman of the Meeting and of the South West Chilterns Community Board, which made the application, said: “There are always issues when there’s a lot of traffic but it’s getting worse.

“Traffic is getting faster and there are more people who order online, which means delivery drivers race to get parcels delivered timely. People are worried about it.

“The only way you can get about is walking on a dark, unlit single track road and you wouldn’t want to let your kids out.

“It cheeses me off that we are the only village without a lower speed limit when everybody else has one. We tried and failed to get a 30mph limit for all the entrances to Fawley but, to a degree, I can understand why it wasn’t introduced.

“The fact that it’s a single-track road with blind corners should keep people’s speed self-regulated but that isn’t the case.

“We have had a lot of near-misses and accidents but there is no solid evidence which shows we must implement a lower speed limit at present.”

Quiet Lanes were introduced thanks to the old Campaign to Protect Rural England and local highways authorities which agreed to pay special attention to the needs of walkers, cyclists, horse riders and other vulnerable road users.

However, the scheme was not adopted in Buckinghamshire.

Mr Turner said: “This is exactly what we have in Fawley but it was too expensive to implement.

“Part of the difficulty is the cost as at the moment councils have no money. People ask. ‘Why can’t you put up signs’ but they cost a minimum of £12,000.

“We will have to wait and see how things change overall in the countryside and hope near-misses don’t become fatalities.”

Steven Broadbent, Buckinghamshire Council’s cabinet member for transport, said: “I am sorry to hear of the resident’s encounter with a dangerously driven delivery vehicle.

“Our speed limits are set against Department for Transport guidance and, in this case, the appropriate limit here is considered to be the national speed limit, as it is on many similar rural roads.

“Assessments consider the hierarchy of the road, its character, traffic/pedestrian volumes, vehicle speeds, collision history and infrastructure in the area to ensure limits are appropriate and legally enforceable.

“As always, we remain responsive to changes in local road and traffic conditions and consider speed limit changes on a case-by-case basis but cannot always agree to every request received.”

• Fogle has launched a petition calling on the council to change the limit in Fawley to 20mph. Visit https://tinyurl.com/ycxjk5jn