Plea for speed bumps is rebuffed

Almost 140 parents in Totley signed a petition calling for traffic-calming measures to be put in place on Hillfoot Road, near Totley All Saints School and Little Saints Nursery.

However, at a meeting of Sheffield Council’s south west community assembly this Thursday, they are set to be told by council officials that requests for such measures, costing around £60,000, have been turned down.

The original petition, which was presented to the authority last year, said there are “various blind spots” along Hillfoot Road, “causing traffic danger to all those crossing the road to use the school entrance.”

Sheffield Council has obtained figures from South Yorkshire Police which show that, in the five years up to September 2011, only one accident is recorded on Hillfoot Road, which involved a cyclist losing control and suffering a “slight” injury.

Highways officers say that, although a traffic-calming scheme for Hillfoot Road is feasible, the appropriateness and effectiveness of such a scheme, on a road characterised by low speeds and low traffic volumes, is questionable.”

In the report set to go before Thursday’s community assembly meeting, they add: “A traffic-calming scheme may have the effect of reducing vehicle speeds by degree, but it would be of no direct assistance to pedestrians crossing Hillfoot Road. Average vehicle speed is 21mph and the narrow road width and the bends have the effect on suppressing the use of inappropriate speeds.”

Thursday’s meeting begins at 7pm at the Abbeydale Sports Club in Abbeydale Road South, Dore.