‘Educate drivers on road safety’

ROAD safety measures will not fix human error at an accident blackspot, says a parish councillor.

Ray Freeman, who sits on Peppard Parish Council, believes drivers need to take more care when driving close to the junction of Stoke Row Road and Gallowstree Road.

There was another accident on Tuesday last week when a van and car were involved in a collision at the junction and the van ended up in a private garden.

Councillor Freeman said: “We’ve got to educate people, because what are you going to do? I’ve lived in Peppard for about 40 years and I’ve seen many accidents on that crossroads.

“We have had various road improvements done by the Oxfordshire County Council and there has been an improvement now that there is better signage but there was another accident last week and I think it’s just human error. Drivers are just careless, just not observing the road and not concentrating on what they’re doing.”

The parish council’s own records say there is an accident at the junction about once every quarter. Earlier this year, there were minor collisions in May and June.

In June 2021, the Henley Standard reported on a driver who said he had feared for the lives of his children after his car was struck and spun 180 degrees anti-clockwise while driving along Stoke Row Road.

Mr Freeman said that he has witnessed many near-misses at the junction and said that despite the efforts made to improve the visibility of the stop signs, some cars are still paying no notice. He said: “I’ve seen people just drive straight across without stopping. If people drive properly and pay due attention, then all roads are safe, aren’t they? There are some road junctions and road conditions that exacerbate this and make things worse.”

Last month, the parish council invested in a mobile speed warning device, which will be moved between various roads in the village. It was installed last week in Gallowstree Road.

Councillor David Bartholomew, who represents the village on Oxfordshire County Council, has had the road repeatedly assessed by the highways team in response to collisions over the years.

Following the latest collision, he asked for another assessment.

Cllr Bartholomew said: “Over the years that I’ve been on the county council I’ve had so many road safety improvements introduced there but the accidents just continue. The highways officers have responded to all of my requests and it has been assessed so many times and so many improvements have been introduced over the years with all of this signage and the markings and the gates. But nobody has been able to come up with a solution that works yet.

“I’m really not quite sure where we go from here. There’s the view that traffic lights would be inappropriate for the centre of a small village, a mini roundabout may be a possibility but I think that would draw some negative comments as well.”

After the most recent assessment in November, the area around the stop sign was resurfaced to a different profile to increase the visibility of the road lines and the markings at the junction were refreshed.

Cllr Bartholomew said that “something funny at the location seems to affect people’s judgement”.

He said: “It is slightly unusual, you’ve got a crossroads where, coming from Gallowstree Common, the road rises and then the main Stoke Row Road is quite fast and it has got relatively good visibility which maybe encourages people to go too quickly but they should see the oncoming cars.

“The police in their accident statistics don’t place a very high priority on accidents that don’t involve personal injury, so over the years it’s been a lot of bent metal but no serious harm.

“I don’t think that generally speaking village residents would welcome overly-intrusive traffic management measures that would spoil the environment that they live in so there is a balance there.”

The county council highways team will be assessing the junction in the near future to identify ways safety could be improved.