PRESSURE to cut the speed limit on a road where a young woman and an elderly cyclist died is escalating after receiving backing from an MP.

Sarah Green MP is supporting hundreds of petitioners calling on Bucks Council to reduce the speed at which people drive along the A413, following the death of Simran “Simi” Johal in October 2020.

Ms Johal, 23, was one of five people in a blue Volkswagen Golf which mounted a roundabout and rolled onto its roof in a late-night horror smash.

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Early reports indicated the car was heading south on the A413 Amersham Road, before losing control.

Ms Johal, from Slough, was pronounced dead at the scene, while three other passengers were admitted to hospital.

Then, on August 29 last year, a 78-year-old cyclist died following a crash with a silver Mercedes on the A413 Amersham Road southbound.

Also, on October 23 last year, a cyclist in his 40s required hospital treatment after being hit by a silver van at the roundabout of the A413 and Vache Lane.

Bucks Free Press:

Simran “Simi” Johal with her mother

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In 2018, a 57-year-old man was killed after a crash with a grey Volkswagen Passat on the A413 Amersham Road, near the junction with Chalfont Park.

Now, more than 830 petitioners have demanded the speed limit between The Greyhound Inn (Joiners Lane Roundabout) and the roundabout junction with Kingsway be reduced from 70mph, “to 50, or 40mph” – although several other smashes have occurred nearby.

Campaign leader Jagdeep Kandola, of Chalfont St Peter, said the speed limit is “totally inappropriate” – adding he is “still having trouble” getting support from local councillors, despite overwhelming backing from residents, and now the Lib Dem MP for Chesham and Amersham.

“I wholeheartedly support this petition and the reduction in speed limit along this stretch of road,” Sarah Green MP.

It is understood Sarah Green MP wrote to Bucks Council’s cabinet member for transport, Cllr Steve Broadbent on the matter in September last year.

“We have got the explicit support of Sarah Green MP,” Mr Kandola. “Though despite the overwhelming local support, our MP’s support, and no police objection, we are still having trouble getting this through the local councillors. I am not sure why.

“Surely the councillors have to enact the will of the people in the local community that they are meant to represent.

“I’ve heard councillors talk such nonsense about this road; that it is a ‘pleasurable driving road’ and that we have no chance of changing that speed limit. I am not sure why we have no chance, given it is within their gift to do it.

“The section of road between the two roundabouts is small and does not justify a 70mph speed limit and a reduction in speed limit would make an immaterial difference to journey times.”

For more details about the petition, click here

Cllr Steven Broadbent, Cabinet Member for Transport said: “As a direct result of concerns raised by local residents, we carried out a speed survey and assessment on this stretch of the A413 and can confirm that an application for a speed limit reduction from the national speed limit to 50mph has now been received. We are currently exploring funding opportunities via the local Community Board and the HS2 Road Safety Fund to commission this work. It should be noted, the legal process to make such changes can take between six and 12 months once the funding has been approved.”

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