“I’ve almost been hit twice recently,” said Dena Smith Ellis. “One time was by a bus, another was by a lorry. I had to stop and get off my bike. I just burst into tears. It was terrifying.”
The Rye town councillor is sharing her concerns about the dangerous speed of vehicles on New Winchelsea Road in Rye with Mayor Chris Hoggart. Both live on the road and see speeding cars, motorbikes, lorries and vans every day. Today they’re watching videos of motorists breaking the 30mph speed limit – including one biker clocked at 97mph almost two years ago.
There have been a number of accidents on the road, most recently a parking car was hit by another car on Wednesday 15 July. On Wednesday 29 July a motorbike overtaking traffic queuing to turn into Rye Harbour Road almost crashed into a van.
The stretch of the A259 has signs warning of the 30mph limit on the approach to Rye, but no signage past the houses on New Winchelsea Road leaving the town.
“The worrying thing is that somebody’s going to get hurt unless something is done,” said Chris Hoggart. “I sadly anticipate it won’t be long before there’s another accident. People overtake me all the time when I’m doing 30mph along here and it’s utterly terrifying.”
He’s now calling on National Highways and Sussex Police to act. “I’d like an average speed camera on this section of the road up to the junction with Rye Harbour Road.”
The mayor leads the local Community Speedwatch team who regularly catch speeding motorists with a radar gun. “When the police are with us we call it shooting fish in a barrel because it takes the officers about a minute to catch someone speeding.”
Sussex Police carry out speed enforcement as part of Operation Downsway. In recent weeks a vehicle was stopped in Rye for excess speed, with checks revealing the driver was uninsured. They will appear in court and the vehicle was seized. A motorcyclist was also stopped in Rye after being recorded doing 53mph in a 30mph zone whilst overtaking. The rider is also due to appear in court.
Image Credits: Chris Hoggart , James Stewart .
Several years ago, I asked my town councillor whether it would be possible to install a speed camera on Military Road, which, like New Winchelsea Road and the other three approaches to Rye, is affected negatively by antisocial speeding vehicles and motorbikes. I was told then that it was not possible to install traffic-calming features like cameras, decibel meters, or speed bumps, because “Rye is an historic town.”
This doesn’t seem like a particularly fair or logical argument to me, when we enjoy modern amenities like road signs, protected cross-walks, and street lighting. Traffic-calming measures would improve the quality of life for a great many Rye residents, as well as potentially saving lives.
Speed humps. Nobody can complain if the limit is clearly signposted. One could do- with ample warning.
On Sunday morning I watched a motorcyclist doing an almost vertical wheelie along Cinque Ports Street between Market Road and Conduit Hill. Fortunately there was nobody approaching the mini-roundabout to turn right out of Rope Walk — it’s hard enough to see speeding traffic from the right without random idiots like this. It was nearly 10 am and the town was already filling up with tourists in cars, on foot and on bikes. Obviously in order to perform his stunt, the biker was going at a higher speed than 30mph. No wonder that in summer the sound of ambulance sirens nearly outcompetes the roar of motorbikes, the train horns, and the seagulls!
Here in the Azores there is a lady with a handheld radar speedgun with camera whose job it is to go from Island to Island snapping speeders. She could appear anywhere.
Some weeks or months later you get a fine by post that you must pay by law.
There are also regular police speed traps, remember those?
How about Vehicle Activated Signs that show you how fast you are driving and remind you of the speed limit. They can be run on Solar and are far less aggressive than speed cameras.
The only answer to Ryes dangerous roads is zebra crossings are urgently needed for the safety of our towns folk, at the bottom of Rye hill, south undercliffe and the dangerous junction at the top of the harbour road, and before Rother District council pass the development adjacent to new road, they should be made to put in a zebra crossing. Over the years the silence has been deafening from Rye town council over these issues and now suddenly with a new development imminent, they are raising their voices,something they should have done years ago,before we see another fatality on our roads in Rye.
The speed of cars and particularly bikers on the Winchelsea road, coming from both directions, can make coming out of Western Barn Close a hazard. The impending increase in lorries and cars coming to and from the new Aldi development will also complicate road safety for pedestrians, cyclists and cars on this stretch of road coming into Rye.
Traffic lights at the junction with Rye Harbour Road and/or speed bumps on the A259 have been discussed ever since I arrived in Rye 6 years ago. Are these improvements now becoming a practical realistic necessity??
I went to National Highways and Sussex Police about speeding on New Road earlier this year. I asked for more 30mph signage to be installed as there is only one sign at either end of the road. I was told there are ample signs and that no further speed restrictions were required. It’s currently 30mph and yet tyres leave the road as cars fly over the bridge.
Vehicles speeding is a problem along all the main arteries into Rye. Traffic calming measures along these roads like speed humps are impractical, especially considering the number of heavy goods vehicles and farm machinery that use them. Households close to them will literally be shaken every time an HGV passes. I favour the installation and use of average speed camera systems together with sensibly positioned signage.
The big problem is any measures will come at a cost. One reasonable and fair solution would be to see new housing developments which do not include provisions for social and affordable housing, and large commercial developments that will increase traffic (such as the new ALDI store), charged a levy to foot the bill for the installation these necessary measures.
Let us not forget South Undercliff and Fishmarket road. I know the speed gun app on my phone is not particuarly accuate but as a good guide I have regularly measured motor bikes doing in over 70 MPH.
Zebra crossings aren’t always safe.
A couple of Wednesdays ago I was crossing the zebra crossing that goes from the strand lock to the other side that can lead you to Gibbet marsh. It was 6.15pm and a car stopped to my right and nothing on my left . I started to cross got just pass the stopped car when a larger black vehicle just shot in front of me so travelling a speed from Winchelsea rd..
fortunately I was not further along the crossing .
I just thanked God I was ok and prayed that the driver would become aware what he had done before he ruined someone’s life and his .
If I had been further across and still missed, the Adrenalin would have kicked in.
I am always careful re crossing roads as my paternal grandparents were both knocked down crossing a rd , but it was a dark night, they both died because of it .
How you make sure drivers are fully aware of speed is a difficult one .
Speed humps are expensive and no set design and ruin cars that even go slowly over them. I personally like the speed reminders that flash to say driving even slightly over the limit.
But summer time is the worst time for speeding.. drinking and now they say more people are driving when taking drugs.
When the supermarket is up and running with the road junction alterations will this make drivers safer or more dangerous ?
Cyclists and drivers of cars and motor bikes etc really don’t mix well on roads together… but of course driving at correct speed or slower when there is a cyclist is safer …