Hampshire Police have refused to answer my Freedom of Information Request on the basis that it would cost too much to find out the information that I wanted. Fair enoughski but that means they won't state how many hours have been spent monitoring the speed of traffic on the open Forest and in particular Roger Penny Way, how many drivers were found to be speeding, or how many tickets they have issued. They also won't provide information about what times of day the Forest roads are being monitored. This information can only be gleaned from the reports provided by the New Forest Heart Cops and the New Forest Roads Awareness Campaign who thankfully report on most - if not all - of the operations that they are involved in (thank you to both of those sources, a) for the information and b) for being there).

More recently, whether prompted by this hoohah or not, there seem to have been more operations and indeed some of them have been during the hours of darkness which is all good news, but with the best will in the world, they cannot be on Roger Penny Way, for instance, 24/7, issuing tickets throughout that time as the Average Speed Cameras would be. With such limited hours - albeit that they are unpredictable - it's difficult to know what deterrent effect they have especially as, even when they are highly visible, 50 drivers are found to have been speeding during every hour that they are there - some at ridiculous speeds. We're told that 48% drivers are speeding when they cross that road. They also seem to give a 25% leeway on the maximum speed, only prosecuting those that are doing more than 50 miles per hour. Whatever happened to the 10% rule and we know that speed cameras are amazingly accurate these days.

I am grateful for any hours that the police - and indeed Community Watch Teams - spend on our Forest roads but it is not sufficient. 

At the moment I am still waiting for Councillor Heron's letter and I still have not even received an acknowledgement of any kind from Donna Jones, the Hampshire Police and Crimes Commissioner. I want to give them all the benefit of the doubt but unless there is some positive move towards the commencement of the Feasibility Study before Christmas then I think she has to be my next port of call. 

We MUST remember Juma and all the other animals that have been killed by speeding and careless drivers along Roger Penny Way and other Forest roads. They have to count for something other than collateral damage. I'm surprised really that other Commoners are not kicking up more about this issue. 

Incidentally, the elections are coming up Verderers of the New Forest - voted for by Commoners of the New Forest - and so far only one has mentioned the issue of road deaths in their election campaign. 

THANK YOU, THANK YOU for taking us beyond 69,000 signatures this week. 

Photo: Juma (left) going through his lion mane phase - at home with his mother, Fritham Nell and weird mule friend Henrietta.