Staining to get speed bumps after accidents where drivers were breaking the limit

The traffic-calming measures will be introduced in Staining in an attempt to ensure drivers stick to the 20mph limit through the centre of the village.

A meeting of Lancashire County Council’s cabinet heard that there have been half a dozen speed-related accidents in the area in recent years, which have seen a total of eight people injured.

Members gave the green light to a £25,000 scheme designed to reduce the casualty rate in Staining by placing three pairs of so-called “speed cushions” on two of its main roads.

Two of the features will be installed on Chain Lane - one close to the junction with Bleasdale Avenue and the other a short distance away near Meadow Park. Meanwhile, on Staining Road, a set of cushions will be introduced around the junction with Staining Old Road.

A public consultation into the plans was carried out early last summer, which generated a call for more traffic-slowing tactics in the village than were actually being proposed - including another pair of speed cushions directly outside the shops on Chain Lane.

However, highways officers said that the nature of the vehicle manoeuvres undertaken by drivers using parking spaces in that location meant that it was not suitable for the measures, because of “the increased level of risk” that they would cause.

County Hall also rejected a call for speed cushions to be put in place prior to the zebra crossing near Bibby Drive - on the approach to the village - an area which it said was “outside the scope” of the planned scheme.

The consultation also attracted two objections - one from a local resident suggesting that the Staining Road cushion should be positioned outside the scout hut and another from a regular user of the routes who claimed that the bumps would cause excessive wear and tear to their vehicle.

Officers advised that the proposed alternative for the Staining Road cushion would obscure its visibility to drivers because of bends in the road. They added that speed humps should not cause any damage or wear and tear to vehicles if they are “driven over at an appropriate speed”.