Camera at crossroads to catch bad drivers

A SPEED camera is to be installed in Wargrave High Street.

The move followes a campaign to stop drivers jumping red lights at the crossroads in the village.

The camera will be installed by Thames Valley Police.

Chris Cordrey began the campaign following multiple incidents where he was overtaken by red light jumpers.

Last year, he wrote to Wokingham Borough Council, the highways authority, calling for action to improve road safety in Wargrave.

He asked for a speed camera at the crossroads and for traffic-calming measures in Mumbery Hill.

Mr Cordrey said: “A survey has taken place and Thames Valley Police and Wokingham Borough Council are treating this installation as a priority.

“The camera will be installed so that the approach from Twyford into Wargrave will monitor infringements of drivers jumping the red light and speeding.

“Residents report to me that at least three or four drivers a week skip a red light here.”

In March last year, he was joined by 20 other villagers in High Street to raise awareness of dangerous driving following incidents Mr Cordrey witnessed.

These included being overtaken by a white Tesla driver who jumped the red light in December 2022.

Mr Cordrey received more than 100 responses from other villagers about similar experiences at the junction, including villager Shaun Caradine whose Ford Kuga was written off in February 2017 by a driver jumping the lights at the junction.

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Meanwhile, Simon Chapman, who leads the A4 Action Group, has launched an online petition demanding that the council halves the speed limit for narrow lanes without pavement in and around Wargrave from 60mph to 30mph.

Mr Chapman, of Scarletts Lane, said: “Some of the lanes are very busy, carrying more 200 vehicles an hour during commuter and school run peaks, most of it through-traffic.

“Walkers, mothers with babies, joggers, elderly people, horse riders and other vulnerable road users are all forced to share the highway with the traffic. Many incidents and accidents occur.

“The council turned down requests to lower the speed limit from small groups such as the Scarletts Lane Residents’ Association, arguing that most drivers comply.

“Residents counter that any legal speed above 30mph is extremely dangerous in environs where they have to contend with additional hazards such as heavy goods vehicles, delivery vans, farm machinery, flooding, black ice, fallen branches and overgrown hedges and verges.

“Many mums who drive their children to school because they are afraid of the traffic have told me that they would be more inclined to walk, or allow their children to walk or cycle on their own, if there were speed restrictions in the lanes without footpaths.”

So far the petition has been signed by 84 people.