ONE of Bordon's most notorious roads for speeding vehicles will be made safer after a county council survey found cars regularly driving too fast. Hogmoor Road, said by a local councillor to be one of three roads in the town used as a racetrack by young people at night, was the scene of 14 accidents between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2005. Four of these accidents were caused by speeding, while the rest were due to careless driving. Each resulted in at least slight harm to drivers or passengers, and serious injuries in two cases. Police casualty figures also show that most of the drivers involved were young men aged 17 to 25. In May this year, a 25-year-old Whitehill man died after his car lost control on a bend in the road, overturned and crashed into the front garden of a house. Farnborough roads-policing unit launched an investigation after the fatal crash. This has been followed by a speed survey of traffic in Hogmoor Road, connecting Whitehill and Bordon, by police and the county council. This found the average speed of vehicles to be 42 mph at the Whitehill end, where the speed limit is 30 mph, and 45 mph at the Bordon end, which has a legal limit of 40 mph. Local campaigners, in particular town councillor Philip Drury, have been asking for the speed limits to be reduced for some time, arguing there are lots of hidden undulations on the road and poor street lighting. Their fears appeared to be borne out by the circumstances of the fatal crash, which took place in the dark, shortly after midnight, on the brow of a hill. But the Casualty Reduction Partnership (CRP), which carried out the survey, has decided the current legal limits reflect the "natural speed limit" of the road, determined by its outlay. It has instead devised a programme of traffic- calming measures to be introduced in Hogmoor Road. Work is due to start this Sunday, December 3, and will be coupled with more frequent monitoring of speed levels, particularly along the 40 mph stretch at the Bordon end. The plans, unveiled at a meeting of Whitehill Town Council on Monday, involve the introduction of: l Hatching on the approaches and through all the junctions north of the Fairway. l Edge-of-carriageway markings on the sections between the junctions, which will reduce the running lanes to 2.65 metres in each direction. l Hatching on the southbound approach to the bend near the Fairway. l Repositioning of the centre line between the Fairway and Firgrove Road, which should reduce conflict between parked vehicles and southbound vehicles. l Replacement of existing warning signs, supplemented with "SLOW" road marking. l Consideration is being given to erecting a "hidden dip" warning north of Warren Close, although this may be difficult to site. Councillors welcomed the announced programme of work. David Williamson said: "This is one of three roads in Bordon used as racetracks by young people. "After 10 pm, they race each other against the clock down these roads." Councillor Zoya Faddy said she was disappointed that the speed limit would not be reduced to 30 mph along the whole road, because there remained the temptation for drivers to speed up. It was agreed that the council would support the traffic-calming measures, but ask for a review of their effectiveness at reducing accidents and incidents of speeding after a year, to assess whether the speed limit still needed changing. Mr Drury, who represents the Hogmoor ward on the town council, said: "Every resident says that after 10 pm they see cars travelling 60 or 70 mph along Hogmoor Road doing handbrake turns, and some have had pets killed by cars. "What's happening here is a good start, but it needs to be monitored closely. In the meantime, we should ask residents what it is they want to see and keep an eye on the situation." Mr Drury recently nominated Hogmoor Road and Firgrove Road - which meets the southern end of Hogmoor Road in Whitehill - for new or improved street lighting under the county council's Community Safety Initiative. Whitehill Town Council is set to request new lights on two lamps in Firgrove Road, at a cost of up to £6,000, after deciding this week that this area was the highest priority. In September, Mr Drury carried out a street- light survey of Hogmoor Ward to make recommendations to the Community Safety Initiative, presenting the findings to the town council. His report concluded: "For the most part, the ward street lighting is good but there are areas which would benefit from additional or at least one lamp so that dark areas can be made safe at nights for the residents." Hogmoor Road, he said, lacked street lighting at the far north (Bordon) end, while the southern junction with Firgrove Road needed a further two lights. He added that at the junctions where Mornington Road, Warren Close and Broomfield Road meet Hogmoor Road, it was difficult to see in the dark and they needed at least one lamp each.
