Bolton Radcliffe Road traffic calming measures not working

The road was closed for a over two weeks up until very recently, as two chicanes were built into the road and the road was resurfaced.

There have been a number of crashes on the road an there are concerns that the measures have not made much of a difference.

Olivia Hughes, 19, lives on the road with her parents and says that, if anything, it’s got worse.

She said: “The supposed traffic calming measures consist of two tiny chicanes at the beginning of the road - nothing near the awful bends, nothing to calm the traffic down on any other stretch of the road.

Radcliffe Road

“Instead, they've re tarmacked it and made it lovely and smooth, so now it's an even better racetrack for them to speed up and down.

“Biggest waste of money the council have spent. It's even more if an accident waiting to happen.”

Oliva, a full-time student, says that her and her family have witnessed and be subjected to a number of dangerous incidents due to reckless driving on the road, including cars crashing, going into their horses’ field, speeding past when they are riding horses, and a kitten being hit by a car which then sped off.

She says a wingmirror from a horse box even hit her brother-in-law on the head.

She added: “We watch kids walk up and down that road from school, it’s going to result in someone getting killed.

A recent car crash on Radcliffe Road

“My parents can’t go into the front garden to relax or tidy it up and plant things as people rush up and down the road.

“They won’t walk to the dog up the road to the fields meaning we have to drive to walk him.”

“I’m a driver myself and I fear driving on my own road to get anywhere due to the speed.

“All we asked was for speed bumps or speed cameras, but they’ve now made the road so much more dangerous.

“I’m disappointed in Bolton Council.”

Cllr David Meehan pointed out that he and Cllr Andrea Taylor-Burke were not elected at the time the decision about the measures was made and says they will continue to monitor the situation.

Cllr Meehan believes that the tarmacking job is fine, however the chicanes could possibly be rethought.

He said: “Personally, I don’t think that it’s very effective. It could have been done better.

Radcliffe Road

“It’s on a straight stretch, and it probably doesn’t prevent from speeding all that much.  

“We will work with residents in order to review and see if it needs to be relocated or changed.”

Cllr Taylor-Burke added: “I think many people were expecting speed bumps, but there are other considerations that have to be made, such as buses being able to use the road.”

Both were keen to point to Greater Manchester Police’s new community speed watch initiative and said that they would be happy to help facilitate setting one up on Radcliffe Road.

“I just had a meeting with GMP last night and they said they would snap my hand off if I could get people on board,” Cllr Meehan said.

A Bolton Council spokesperson said: “The new measures haven’t been in place long enough for any fair assessment of a change in driver behaviour. 

"In addition, there are some signs to be installed win the next few weeks.”