Heavy good vehicles are more frequently over exceeding the maximum height limit of the bridge along the A325 in Wrecclesham near Weydon Lane, Farnham. 

This is happening too frequently, resulting in lorries overturning, despite electronic warning signs being installed.  More needs to be done. Better warning measures? Alternative routes? Safer walking routes? 

The most recent incident on 11/07/2022 resulted in a Nissan Qashqai being crushed underneath a HGV with a women inside.  Miraculously and with thanks to the emergency services the incident was not fatal and the women was removed from her vehicle and taken to hospital with serious but not life threatening injuries.

Over the past few years there have been 19 incidents of HGVs hitting the bridge and overturning.

24/09/2014, 

22/05/2015, 27/05/2015

18/08/2016

23/05/2017, 19/07/2017, 04/09/2017, 06/10/2017, 10/11/2017

07/02/2018, 11/07/2018, 06/08/2018, 06/12/2018,

15/03/2019, 04/04/2019, 13/05/2019

07/10/2021

17/03/2022, 11/07/2022

HGVs are expected to follow the diversion route to avoid the low bridge but often use Weydon Lane as a cut through from the A31 at one end to join the A325 again just past the bridge at the other end. This route is not ideal or safe for such large vehicles.  It requires passing over a single lane bridge which may result in maintenance work having to be carried out in the future.

 Weydon lane passes two schools, Highfield South Farnham, which is a primary school and nursery with over 450 pupils registered.  Weydon School is a secondary school with over 1600 students enrolled.  Both schools have large numbers of staff members and parents as well as general public. The area is built up and many parents have to park locally for school drop off and collection times, this is already an increasing issue in the area.  There are at least two businesses off of this road that both use lorries, large vehicles and construction machinery.

The road over the bridge is a single lane road controlled by traffic lights, traffic gets backed up as this is a busy route through Wrecclesham to access the A31.  Parents and children have difficulty crossing the roads due to the amount of traffic, crossing between cars with restricted views and areas with no footpath.  HGVs taking this route can become unable to move as traffic struggles to pass one another, this regularly happens when there are large numbers of children and parents around using the limited footpaths available putting them very close to the moving traffic or vehicles trying to squeeze through.

Weydon School has parents dropping and collecting their children to and from school as well as buses that transport children from other local areas, again this causes traffic build up and restricts the view for pedestrians.

Weydon Lane joins the A325 just after the restricted height bridge and this junction is very busy and has a very tight right turn. HGVs often have to mount the pavement to make the turn.  These narrow footpaths are in constant use by students and other pedestrians which is extremely dangerous in these situations.

As a community we support cycling and walking to school but doing so is putting our children at serious risk of harm. It just isn’t safe!

There have been several attempts to make changes to this situation but nothing significant has changed.  The electronic warning signs were installed but evidently this is not improving the situation as the situation remains the same.

The people of Farnham and surrounding areas want our roads and footpaths to be safe for our children, to allow them to walk and cycle to school without such a high risk of fatality.

WHEN WILL SOMETHING BE DONE?

CHANGE NEEDS TO START NOW!

WE CANNOT WAIT UNTIL AN INNOCENT PERSON IS SERIOUSLY INJURED OR KILLED!

Local councils, highways agencies and local MPs need to devise plans and changes, alternative routes need to be put in place using more suitable and safe roads, implementing them immediately before our children, family and friends end up on the front page of a newspaper.