Quail Holme Road in Knott End is increasingly being used as a rat run, with some cars going well over the 20 mph speed limit. This is a residential area and speeding is putting pedestrians at risk, especially children and the elderly.

I recently wrote to Lancashire County Council who, along with the Police, are responsible for tackling speeding, asking them what interventions they can make to stop cars using Quail Holme Road as a rat run and to prevent them from speeding. I passed on a suggestion from one constituent for traffic islands.

While they have disappointingly refused more substantial “safety engineering measures” such as islands or speed bumps, they have agreed to install new signage which will remind drivers to think about their speed. They will be installed from July to September 2023 initially, then again from January to March 2024, to “help maximise the effect of their message”.

It is odd that they are willing to introduce a new set of signage while also arguing that the road’s safety record does not “justify measures at this time”, but in any case, this is a step in the right direction and I will look forward to seeing if it makes a difference.

The full response from Lancashire County Council was as follows:

“Thank you for your email dated 5 May 2023, on behalf of your constituent, regarding speeding on Quail Holme Road, Knott End. As part of the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership, we work closely with the police to target locations which have an evidenced speeding issue. In these locations, we look to introduce appropriate mitigation measures.

We take requests for safety engineering measures, such as the islands requested by your constituent, very seriously. It is unfortunate that every year the number of requests we receive exceeds what we can implement. We consider these requests in line with the Lancashire Road Safety Strategy (lancsroadsafety.co.uk/about/strategy). This allows us to prioritise which measures to take forward. Based on the safety record we hold for Quail Holme Road, we are not able to justify measures at this time.

We will, however, install temporary signage on Quail Holme Road as a result of our investigation into the speed data here. These help remind drivers to think about their speed. We will install them from July to September 2023 initially, then again from January to March 2024, to help maximise the effect of their message.

Your constituent may benefit from the online Community Toolkit, which gives other examples of how they can raise awareness of local speeding and road safety issues. This toolkit is available from the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership website (lancsroadsafety.co.uk/submit-concern).

Finally, if residents witness regular incidents of nuisance or dangerous driving, they can contact the police directly either by the non-emergency telephone number: 101, or on the Lancashire Constabulary ‘Do It Online’ webpage (doitonline.lancashire.police.uk), ideally with a record of the registration numbers of the vehicles.”