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Title:	Calm the traffic on Westfield Road, Harpenden
Petition Overview:	The cars speed up and down the road at alarming speeds! It is more by luck than judgement that a child or other resident has not been killed. We do have so called calming measures in place, two slaloms. One of which is placed opposite the local shop, the shop attracts passing trade as well as residents and is a good local resource to have, however cars park on the double yellow lines causing cars travelling up the road to drive on the wrong side of the road, then swerve to avoid the slalom. Cars race to avoid slowing down or stopping at the slaloms to give way to oncoming traffic! Other local roads have speed humps so the excuse cannot be that buses use the road as the buses use those roads to! I have contacted HCC before reguarding this matter and recieved very little in the way of conversation as what local residents actually want! Our cars are being hit, usually by cars whose drivers chose not to stop and leave their details, our insurance is already expensive, and continues to increase each year, these incidents will not help keep our insurance costs stable! There is a school just off Westfield Road, we do have a crossing person, but only at school start and end times, the children of the local area play out after school, half terms and holidays. For the sake of all the residence, we need to calm the traffic, slow the drivers, please sign our petition Many thanks The residents of Westfield Road and surrounding areas
Relevant Area(s):	Not Specified
Opening Date:	12/03/2015
closing Date:	13/03/2015
Signatures:	20
Petitioner Name:	Michelle Ramsay

Thank you for your e-petition, raising concern about traffic speeds on Westfield Road, Harpenden, and requesting traffic calming measures. Officers will continue to liaise with the local Police Traffic Management Unit, to maintain their awareness as the speed enforcement authority, of the concerns raised by the local community about traffic speeds exceeding the existing speed limit. With regard to the concerns about the potential danger caused by speeding traffic; every year Hertfordshire Highways receives significant numbers of similar service enquiries for investigation. There are, however, limited resources available. As you can appreciate we need to prioritise which initiatives will go forward. Whenever a request for a service is received, an initial assessment is made to confirm the request meets agreed Highways and Transport policies, targets and programmes; and then the appropriate response is provided to the local community. The next step to progress this request is for Highways Officers to undertake an assessment of the existing local traffic conditions, when typical traffic movements are prevalent outside of the school holidays period. Officers would then liaise with the local County Councillor to consider the need for possible future traffic improvement measures here, compared with other candidate sites across the highway network, and to update the local community of the findings. You may be aware that the Harpenden UTP highlighted the need for improved cycle crossing facilities to be considered where the Upper Lea Valley Green Route crosses Westfield Road. This scheme is currently being developed in co operation with Sustrans and an on site trial is to take place to assess one of the design options. It may be that these measures, if progressed, change the nature of the road. As with all schemes of this nature, afterwards surveys would be undertaken to assess changes to vehicle speeds etc. This data will help us to asses the ste in the light of the issues you have drawn to our attention and the processes outlined above. The concerns that you have raised with respect to parking will be discussed with the District Council who manage and enforce parking in the District.

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