On bank holiday Monday, April 10 at 5:40pm a road traffic accident on South Undercliff between two cars, caused the road to be closed for a time. Mark Streeton, a local resident, gave this account:
“The emergency services were called and one driver was treated for a cut knee at the scene. One of the cars hit a lamp-post and it couldn’t be moved until the highways department arrived to remove the lamp-post which was hanging at a dangerous angle. The phone lines also were hanging loosely. UK Power Networks were working until 3am. It just shows how one misjudgement on the road can cause such chaos. It is a 30mph zone but often cars drive much faster.”
Image Credits: Mark Streeton .
When O When will something be done about the speed of the traffic through Rye?
The residents of South Undercliff take their lives in their hands every day when crossing the road to get to the town.
The issue has been raised with MPs in the past and Rye Town Council but nothing has ever been done.
There should be 30mph signage painted on all the roads into Rye (from Camber, Rye Hill,
Udimore Road) to remind drivers that there is a 30mph speed limit THROUGHOUT Rye, not
just on Winchelsea Road where drivers do seem to heed the signage and drive at the correct speed.
Ideally speed cameras in each location would make drivers drive at the correct speed but the argument against this would be cost.
HOW ARE WE GOING TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM?
What makes me wonder who sets the speed limits, going through Udimore the speed limits where up to 50 mph which were on the bends, absolutely ridiculous.
Living on Udimore Rd, I know precisely what TB means, and with potholes, pelotons of lycra-clad cyclists, bikers, camper vans, couriers, tourists, tractors, and frustrated local commuters, this summer is likely to be as difficult and dangerous as ever… We experience the perfect storm of risk factors, but as a number of people have said to me, it feels as though there will have to be a fatality before anything serious is done. I sincerely hope that isn’t the case.
Speed limits are certainly one issue, but enforcement is another – we need visible, regular police presence, not occasional high profile crackdowns as a sot to concerned locals. Residents shouldn’t have to be organising speed watches and action groups…
Accidents are frequent, of course, and Tanyards Lane and South Undercliff have seen several in the past week alone. Though Tanyards Lane is a 30mph zone, last night there were a number of cars doing much in excess. It’s little wonder local families are too concerned about the traffic to walk their children five minutes up the hill to school… They are forced to drive instead. Tanyards Lane desperately needs a zebra crossing, which might also calm traffic…
So, something certainly needs to be done at County and national level to increase funding for maintenance and enforcement etc, but we also need to be getting cars off the road. If we had a viable, cheap, integrated public transport system, that might help alleviate the volume of road traffic (and parking problems) but, of course, we don’t…
Mrs Nocera, with whom I spoke on Tuesday night, asks, ‘What can be done?’ Well, the first thing is to keep pushing for a solution. One redoubtable resident of South Undercliff (whose name I don’t have permission to relay) fought for two years to get the lines restored to the bend outside Alsfords, preventing articulated lorries overshooting dangerously onto the pavement – and she succeeded! So things can be done with determination and persistence. Winchelsea Residents Association have just formed a 259 Action Group, I suggest South Undercliff residents do the same, and coordinate pressure via Parish, Town and District up to County and to our current MP. We are much stronger when we act in concert, so email Sally Ann Hart MP, and write to your County Councillor too – they work for you!! Keep up the pressure, but keep the faith too, bcs the surest way to fail is to give up. Obviously, I will do my best to help coordinate sustained pressure, if elected on 4th May.
A very sad ‘sign’ of our times when people are needed to be told how to drive/behave; rather like during Covid when we had to be told to wash our hands…Unfortunately, there are those who will not heed these warnings nor drive with care, no matter how many signs or warnings are applied.