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Treacherous Pegasus Way!

by Haddenham Webteam – 25th January 2017
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This morning, Wednesday 25th January, local residents at Chilworth Gate reported dreadfully icy road conditions on Pegasus Way. The slippery surface led to a number of vehicles losing control.

At least three separate incidents were reported, with vehicles slipping off the carriageway and damaging fences and roadside lamp stands.

The murky visibility did not help matters, and some drivers were reported to have been driving without due regard to the conditions – too fast and with no lights on.

Apparently, Pegasus Way is not on the standard route for gritting by Transport for Bucks, despite it being the main route into the Haddenham Business Park.

Local resident, Kim Biddulph, was informed by Transport for Bucks that a change in gritting routes can only be achieved by intervention from our District or County Councillors.

Let's hope our AVDC or County Councillors read this and act on the information by getting Pegasus Way routinely gritted when weather conditions dictate. At least one of the vehicles losing control this morning was a heavy goods truck, and Pegasus Way lies very close to houses and pedestrians on the Chilworth Gate estate.

Response from Parish Council

Sue Gilbert, Clerk to Haddenham Parish Council offered the following observations:

Residents do often have access to grit boxes so they can grit the road themselves, an example is the one on the Station Road / Flint Street junction which the PC provided after an accident there, for residents to use. They are usually only provided where there is a regular problem such as a steep hill, on a sharp bend or at a junction on side roads.

Bucks County Council gritting policy is on its website here.

They obviously have to prioritise the main roads and then do smaller roads, and it may be that even though Pegasus Way is unclassified, as it is a main access for HGVs it could be added to the priority list, I don't know how BCC assess the risk.

It maybe that residents gritting this road may not be appropriate as it is quite busy & not a residential road.

Also circulated by BCC is the winter driving advice (see PDF below images) which was circulated a few weeks ago & added to the HPC website.

Unfortunately there is only so much that can be done, and I think this morning was a particularly bad ice day. Snow is more obvious, of course, but it seems that this was a layer of black ice over all the roads & pavements, which I think is fairly rare.

Unfortunately not everyone takes note of the conditions and adjusts their driving.

Additional comment from lorry driver:

25 January 11:45
I was the driver of the Grundon lorry that skidded off on Wednesday morning. Would like to thank the residents in the new houses who offered me and my colleagues a hot cuppa and checked we was ok. That corner is horrendous, I was well under the speed limit and still couldn't save my lorry from coming off the road. I even walked on the road that I skidded on and I nearly fell on my arse. That corner/road needs to be gritted otherwise it's only the matter of time until there is a serious accident there. I was very lucky as I didn't cause any damage the the fencing, posts, lorry and even more important anyone else. Just want to put it out there that all the damage in these pictures wasn't cause by me, I witnessed the Range Rover sport bombing it around the corner and take it all out, god knows how he didn't end up in one of those new houses on the corner. My personal opinion is that the road from the roundabout shouldn't be a national speed limit as it gives people like the person driving the Range Rover sport a chance to put there foot down or even a speed camera before the bend. "

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