LETTER: Perhaps drivers were to blame

Thousands of other drivers safely negotiate these ‘blackspots’ daily.

Locals are already aware when care needs to be taken at particular places, but there are still drivers who are careless of their own safety, let alone others.

I believe many drivers would rather see urgent action to complete permanent repairs to the thousands of potholes on rural roads, caused 
by excess traffic loads, not speed.

Or are they being used as traffic calming measures?

One road that I do ask to have special attention is the double bend on Powdermill Lane by the Hotel.

You have a combination of narrow road with oncoming vehicles often encroaching on your lane, badly fitting drain covers and dazzle when the sun is low and a dense mass of trees overhanging just where frost and water runoff meet.

The use of different coloured road surface is a great help, but it can’t prevent tractors with overhanging hay bales being wider than the road!

I appreciate you can hardly bulldoze through the Powdermill Hotel, but there must be a practical solution to straightening out these dangerously sharp bends at the bottom of steep approaches.

Specifically, there is consideration to reduce the speed limit to 50mph between Herstmonceux and Magham Down.

Driving from A to B these days is taking longer due to increased traffic and there are many roads where 30mph is often unachievable due to following in line astern of long vehicle queues.

That seems an innocuous piece of the A271 and if this attitude by ESCC continues, it won’t be long before we revert to men in white coats waving a red flag walking ahead of every vehicle.

The main point is to ensure that there is an understanding of where the road itself is poorly designed and needs improvement, not where accidents occur simply because of hotheaded drivers.

Kevin Regan

Standard Hill Close

Ninfield