Drivers in and around Atherstone asked to slow down and watch out for coronavirus 'exercisers' this bank holiday

POLICE PLEA FOR EXTRA CARE AS VEHICLES NOW SHARING ROADS WITH MORE PEOPLE WHO HAVE TURNED TO 'CYCLING, RUNNING OR WALKING'

FORCE ALSO WORRIED INCIDENTS OF SPEEDING ON QUIETER ROADS DURING LOCKDOWN MAY INCREASE NOW RESTRICTIONS EASED

DRIVERS and motorcyclists out over the bank holiday weekend across Atherstone and North Warwickshire are being urged to "slow down" as they encounter new potential hazards – born out of lifestyle changes in dealing with the ongoing impact of coronavirus.

Police are calling for extra care as vehicles are now sharing the roads with more people who have turned to "cycling, running or walking" for their exercise during the current pandemic.

Additional traffic is also being generated by workers returning to their places of employment as the lockdown restrictions are eased.

During lockdown on quieter roads some drivers and motorcyclists have seen this as an opportunity to speed.

A force statement said: "We are extremely concerned that with more people back on the roads these numbers may increase.

"As more people return to work, our roads will become busier not only with traffic but with some people also choosing to walk, run or cycle to work.

"For drivers and motorcyclists who may not have driven for a while please slow down to give yourself more time to react to what is happening on the road in front of you.

"Speeding makes it more difficult for the driver to maintain control of the vehicle.

"This is true for motorcyclists too. In 2017, nationally 17.5 per cent of fatal motorcycle accidents had exceeding the speed limit as a contributory factor, compared to eight per cent for all vehicles."

Warwickshire Police said it wants to make roads safer for lawful road users and will always choose to educate the minority of drivers who speed before turning to enforcement.

In the three-year period up to the end of 2019, some 92 people were killed and 669 seriously injured in collisions where speed or loss of control was recorded as a contributory factor in Warwickshire.

One recent local fatality – the cause of which has yet to be determined – involved a 21-year-old former Hednesford Town footballer who died in the early hours of March 25 last year in a crash outside Atherstone Golf Club.

Aston University student Harry Jenks was a back seat passenger in a Seat Ibiza which left the Coleshill Road and finished in a ditch. The case against a 21-year-old woman, who denies causing death by both dangerous and careless driving, was adjourned in February with a trial date set for this July.

It is more than a decade since Warwickshire County Council staged a wide-ranging speed limit review on A and B class roads

In 2009, following on from guidance set by the Department for Transport and an extensive consultation process resulting in over a 1,000 comments, the mph was dropped on more than 120 county roads.

Many of the changes recommended were installed on roads where there was a history of personal injury crashes, therefore some significant benefit in terms of reducing road casualties was expected.

In and around Atherstone, Merevale Lane saw a 60mph limit lowered to 50mph with the same action taken on Nuneaton Road, Mancetter.

Harpers Lane, Mancetter was reduced from 40mph to 30mph as was Witherley Road, Atherstone – the subject of much debate over the implementation of speed humps which has sparked controversy as drivers are continuing to avoid them by steering their vehicles down the middle of the split bumps.

Attempts by campaigners to remove them, on the grounds they were the wrong dimensions, have been countered by county highways and private consultants carrying out exhaustive tests to determine they are the right size.

Short-term surveillance by Atherstone Nub News in February revealed nearly three quarters of motorists heading into the town centre are deliberating driving for the gap between the speed bumps.

A year on from the initial speed limit changes in 2009, monitoring to determine their effectiveness took place.

The results revealed a 22 per cent reduction in crashes resulting in personal injury and a 35 per cent reduction in the number of crashes resulting in death of serious injury.