Latimer Road, Chesham

This post is about a particular road in Chesham which I drive down each and every day so if your not local maybe just wait for my next post. Latimer Road is a a 2 mile stretch of road just wide enough for 2 cars and only a few junctions. When we moved to Chesham it used to have a speed limit of 60 miles per hour and I would enjoy driving down it at speed it was that sort of enjoyable road. I would convince myself that I knew the road well and that it was safe for me to go at that speed. However, its not the case for everyone, and in the 3 years that I had been diving along the road at 60 mph I personally witnessed the direct aftermath of 4 crashes, speed was undoubtedly a factor in all of them. So I don't really have any real complaint that for the last year the speed limit has been lowered to 40mph and in parts 30mph. Especially when in the last year I know of no significant accident along that stretch.

The road itself comes into a quiet bit of Chesham and turns in to Waterside, which is a built up 30 mph zone and always has been, living just off waterside I still see cars traveling at great speed coming into town past a school and a local park. My dog was hit by a 4x4 in this stretch of road (no lasting damage) and several cats have perished. I fear its only a matter of time till something worse happens. I'm quite unforgiving with people who have little awareness of their surroundings thus risking the lives of others without even realizing. Lets hope the police commissioner is willing to take action.

My issue now is that so many people just ignore the speed limit and drive too fast along even the 30mph bit. I understand its difficult, it takes great effort on my part to drive so slowly along a stretch of road I know so well but I manage it. I've turned it into a bit of a game, in which I drive at the speed limit all the way and then by the time I get to my road, I count the number of cars that I have caught. Most days I have snared at least 4 cars and my record believe it or not is 12. I also get regularly overtaken along the winding narrow road and quickly lose sight of them as they disappear into the path of oncoming traffic. Also a problem is that without an opportunity to overtake safely drivers often feel the need to drive within a single car length of my bumper as if they can pressure me into going that little bit faster but leaving them no room to react let alone break if something where to go wrong. The only safe thing for me to do is to reduce my speed so as to try and give me more time to react knowing that if something happens i'm going to have a car in my backside.

You might expect the speeders to fit a certain category, young boy racers in low riding cars, but from my anecdotal reckoning they don't fit a particular profile. They are young and old men and women. It does seem that 4x4's are over represented as are white vans, but apart from that i haven't noticed any trend. I don't know why they want to go so fast, though I do understand that their is a certain adrenaline and a belief that you'll get somewhere quicker, but the reality is that it makes no discernible difference. If you could drive the whole stretch at 60 it would take you 2 minutes to get the whole way, at 30 for a mile and 40 for the other it would take you 3 1/2 . So really for a minute and half can't they just relax, the journey would really be a lot simpler.