Viewpoint: Crunching numbers over Holyport roundabout crashes

Crunching numbers over roundabout crashes

In the reply to the Advertiser in answer to concerns about the cycleways at the new Holyport roundabout, the response was: “The idea is very simple – get cyclists off the roundabout, as many of them as possible, because it is cyclists who have been involved in the injury accidents.”

I believe that to be wrong.

The original report for the roundabout in October 2023 quoted 12 injury accidents involving 14 people.

This was over a 10-year period but didn’t say how many cyclists were involved.

To verify this I used a site trusted by consultants and contractors called crashmap.co.uk, which uses government figures put together from police records.

Using a comparable period to the report from 2014 to 2023, inclusive, there were only four accidents at Holyport roundabout over the 10-year period, none involving cyclists and considerably less than quoted in the report to cabinet.

The results – one serious accident to one person involving two cars in 2015, two accidents with slight injuries, each involving two cars, in 2017 and one slight involving two cars in 2020.

Averaging one accident every two-and-a-half years would be considered a very safe junction and what you would expect from a mini-roundabout.

Interestingly, Holyport Road/Stroud Farm Road had exactly the same accident record over the same period with considerably less traffic, but this is to be expected at a priority junction.

Why change this roundabout at considerable cost?

A report in 2019 to identify key infrastructure improvements needed, didn’t include this roundabout.

Neither did the study of the A308 that highlighted 42 sites where accidents were concerning.

So why exaggerate the accident record to justify this scheme and what was the purpose?

I suspect we will never have that answer.

During my time at Berkshire County Council the priorities on the A308 were Fifield Road junction and Oakley Green Road junction, both with higher accident records than Holyport Road roundabout.

BARRY GIGGINS

Greenacre

Windsor

Why should rugby club have to leave park?

Peter Prior, in offering a proposed solution for the future location of Maidenhead United Football Club (Viewpoint, August 5) states that this needs to be near the town centre and railway station therefore the most suitable site is in Braywick Park.

Does this argument not apply equally to the rugby club’s location or is he suggesting that the football club has some overriding right to be near the town centre as opposed to the needs of the rugby club?

As club chairman Steve Bough rightly says MRC has been at Braywick for a very long time and adds that ‘in an ideal world we don’t want to go anywhere’.

It seems that Mr Prior is proposing to ‘shunt’ the rugby club, with all that that entails, some three miles out of town just to appease the football club.

I notice he doesn't suggest the football club moving to Water Oakley, after all it is their problem not the rugby club’s.

Why should the rugby club have to move when it is so well established in Braywick Park?

It should remain where it is.

As a lifelong member of the club I trust the membership of MRC will be accorded full voice in the matter and reject the proposal accordingly.

GRAHAM CHAMBERLAIN

Snowball Hill

Maidenhead

Kindness of strangers vs prophets of doom

In recent weeks we have been assailed by the right wing prophets of doom, especially Nigel Farage, leader of Reform, predicting ‘societal collapse’.

On Sunday afternoon (August 10) I and my wife witnessed an act of kindness and positive intervention outside Maidenhead Library, whilst we were waiting for our bus home.

A young Asian couple were giving first aid to an elderly white gentleman who had fallen and struck the back of his head.

This help was carried out over a period of 15 minutes under the telephone guidance of the responding emergency services, whilst waiting for the dispatch of an ambulance.

Whoever they are, they deserve the utmost respect and praise for their fantastic assistance.

And so much for Mr Farage’s – and the Tory echo chamber, Robert Jenrick’s – baleful prognostications.

RICHARD WORRALL

Godayn Grove

Maidenhead

Get involved and follow your Lionesses dream

As chairman of Taplow Utd FC we will play our part in offering young girls the opportunity to follow their Lioness dreams and play football in the season ahead.

Whilst we already have a successful adult ladies team under the stewardship of Samantha Barwood – recently shortlisted by the Berks & Bucks FA for female coach of the year – we will embark this season with an U8s girls team. Sam will also be in charge of their development.

What better opportunity than now for parents to give their inspired daughters the chance to play football and develop their skills, not just in football, but also important life skills.

We have been in existence for over 100 years and have our own facilities, pitches, clubhouse and an established youth section.

The new young girls team will become an extension of this long-established history and experience.

As we grow the opportunity for young girls and adult ladies, it is also the chance for parents and adult women to step forward as prospective coaches and come on this exciting journey.

With your enthusiasm and our support, you and these excited young girls can have a great time in local football and who knows where that might lead to.

I encourage you to contact us via our website www.taplow-utd.co.uk and express your interest and find out more.

PAT GUERIN

Chairman

Taplow Utd FC

New platform will help charities find helpers

Across the country, charities are working tirelessly to support their communities, and often, volunteers are at the heart of that effort.

Readers who are part of charities will know how tough it’s become to find the volunteers that we need.

It’s not that the willingness isn’t there, we hear every day from people who want to help.

It’s just that life is busy, the process can be clunky, and too often, the right opportunities and the right people simply don’t find each other.

That’s why, thanks to the support of players of People’s Postcode Lottery, Royal Voluntary Service is developing a free-to-use digital volunteering platform to support charities with recruiting and onboarding volunteers.

It’s been designed with input from local and national charities to help all of us connect with volunteers from all generations and backgrounds, and aims to complement all the existing good work that is taking place to recruit volunteers at a local level and in specialist areas.

The platform will officially open to the public in the autumn, when local people will be able to browse volunteering opportunities and click and connect with causes they care about.

But today, I’m writing to encourage fellow charities to sign up for free and see how the platform could benefit them.

Whether your cause is health, heritage, sport, animals, the environment – or something beautifully unique to your community – we want you with us.

This platform is our chance, together, to make volunteering easier, more accessible and more visible.

Whether someone has an hour to give or wants to commit long-term, we want them to find a role that fits - something they believe in, something local, or something flexible they can do from home.

Visit royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk to find out more and sign your charity up to the platform.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be inviting charities to begin uploading their volunteering opportunities to the platform in stages, and to test it out before it launches to the public.

So, from one charity to another: I hope you’ll join us.

Let’s make it easier for people to find their place in volunteering, and let’s do it, as we always do, by pulling together.

CATHERINE JOHNSTONE CBE

Chief executive of Royal Voluntary Service