Letter: Unnecessary Street Signs Increase The Risk of Collisions

Published on: 23 Jun, 2015
Updated on: 23 Jun, 2015

The Suzuki Hayabusa after the collision near the Wooden Bridge public house on Jun 16. Surrey Police has asked for witnesses to come forward.

From John Robinson

As an experienced rider, I was very sad to hear about the accident on Midleton Road last week (Jun 16) in which a motorcyclist died.

The motorcycle involved, a Suzuki Hayabusa, is the type of machine ridden by experienced riders, not least due to the cost of insuring such a bike (i.e. young riders with little riding experience need not apply).

What is becoming an increasing issue on Surrey’s roads, apart from congestion, is the poor road surfaces and the amount of road furniture we have, a problem right across the UK.This is a hazard not only to motorcyclists, who are clearly more vulnerable, but to all road users.

I’ve noticed around Guildford the amount of metal posts by the side of the road, with no signage on them at all – either it has fallen off, or been removed – so why is the post still in place?

Likewise, where we have a lamppost, with a speed limit sign only 5 metres or so past the lamppost – why not fix the speed limit sign on the lamppost itself? This reduces the hazard and waste materiel.

I thought this ‘road furniture’ issue was something the government, and local authorities, agreed to examine years ago, with a view to reducing the need for these items – but there doesn’t seem to be much progress being made.

Although this was a single vehicle accident, there have been many close calls along that section of road in the morning, where some people change lanes in the heavy traffic without proper observation or signalling – it’s sometimes just a rushed decision.

Please remember, it’s “mirror (or even better, turn your head to look) – signal – manoeuvre” rather than the usual manoeuvre – signal at the same time, but without looking, or just manoeuvre on its own.

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