South Weirs pinch points

During September 2010, nine pinch points were installed on Burley Road (through an area known as South Weirs) to the south of Brockenhurst. The decision was taken by Hampshire County Council as the Highway Authority after a local campaign by the South Weirs Action Group for Safety. The hope is that the pinch points will reduce vehicle speeds and the number and severity of accidents along this route.

Pinch points have previously been installed to reduce traffic speeds within villages and there are six on the road between Burley and Thorney Hill which were installed to protect drainage culverts under the road. However, nowhere else in the open landscapes of the Forest have they been installed specifically to reduce animal accidents. Pinch points are by definition quite intrusive and are therefore not universally popular, but the scheme will provide a powerful experiment through which their effectiveness can be demonstrated.

In each of the years between 2005 and 2009 between three and six animals were involved in traffic accidents along the stretch of road now treated with pinch points, 25 in total. There were none in the first nine months of 2010, so the average was 4.3 animal accidents each year between January 2005 and September 2010. The total of animals either killed outright or destroyed because of their injuries was 9, giving an average of 1.6 deaths per year.

During the following year (October 2010 – September 2011) there was only one animal accident (involving a pony that had to be destroyed). These initial results suggest that the pinch points are reducing the frequency of animal accidents.

The plan is to give the trial at least a second year before decisions are made about the permanence of the pinch points. Data on traffic speed and personal injuries will also be taken into account.