Upset Over 20mph Rejection

SUPPORTERS of a proposed 20mph speed limit for the centre of Thame, were left saddened and disappointed last night, after the scheme was rejected by Thame Town Council.
Oxfordshire County Council had chosen Thame for a Pilot scheme to introduce some additional traffic calming measures to reduce traffic speeds to 20mph, in an effort to reduce the potential for accidents and were asking for the council?s support to enable them to begin wider consultation.
Speaking to the council, Margie Barbour said that she spoke for parents, young people and the elderly in asking that the proposal be allowed to go to a wider public consultation on what she described as ?an opportunity to take Thame into the 21st Century? and help make it a safer place for young people to walk and cycle to school as, she said, she and probably councillors would have done in their day.
?You are giving us parents a tough call,? she said, ?in asking us to allow an 11 year-old girl to cycle in this town.?
She spoke about the statistics involving the difference in severity of injury to young road accident victims between vehicles travelling at lower speeds and how Lord Williams?s school was keen to encourage more pupils to walk and cycle to school. Her comments met with cheers and claps from a group of youngsters in the public gallery.
Mr Richard Hughes, speaking against the proposal, said that he feared higher pollution levels, that the current level of accidents did not warrant more calming, response times of emergency vehicles would be increased and that the