SPEEDING cars "tearing up and down" a Bracknell road are an accident waiting to happen following the replacement of traffic chicanes with speed humps, a resident has claimed. 


Gill Grigg, who lives in Loughborough, Crown Wood, Bracknell, has hit out at Bracknell Forest Council after chicanes along Opladen Way, that were outside the Crown Wood shops towards the junction with Farningham, were removed and replaced with speed humps and the speed limit reduced to 20mph. 


She said: "The chicanes have been replaced by so called speed humps that do anything but reduce speed! Cars are tearing up and down the road now at far greater speeds than the previous 30mph, let alone the new speed of 20mph. 


"The noise, for those of us backing onto the road, is at times, unbearable and the speed of vehicles highly dangerous, with many near misses on the pedestrian crossings.


"Is it possible that the chicanes have been removed to enable the traffic from the horrendous road works at Coral Reef roundabout to use Opladen Way as an escape route? There is certainly more through traffic now they have been removed."


She added that residents fear it will not be long before "a pedestrian is injured or a serious accident occurs".


She went on: "Surely this is the opposite of the safety aspect of 20mph at Crown Wood School that is now in force but that very few vehicles are observing. What a waste of council tax payer's money and where are the speed cameras or the police?"


Head of transport development, Neil Mathews, said: "The 20mph zone was introduced to improve pedestrian safety in the area of the expanded Crown Wood School. 


"The overall scheme provides wider benefit than the original two chicanes, with the introduction of a zebra crossing and a separate wide pedestrian island. 


"Both of these provide safer crossing points for pedestrians. The speed bump scheme has been designed to current Department for Transport Standards."