We are calling on Dorset Council to urgently review and reduce speed limits between Wimborne and Cranborne — please sign this petition. 

A Crash into our Home 

On 30 April, a driver lost control on the B3078 and collided with our Grade II listed property in Stanbridge, demolishing an outbuilding and causing extensive damage. We are extremely fortunate that my husband was not working in his studio at the time.

I have called Stanbridge home for more than 40 years. My family has lived at Stanbridge House since the 1980s, and my husband and I now live here with our own family. What happened to our home is a deeply personal example of a much wider problem affecting communities along the route.

A Road That Has Outgrown Its Speed Limit

Over that time, the nature and use of the B3078 have changed significantly. Major housing growth in and around Wimborne has increased traffic, and modern satnavs guide more traffic along this route. Modern vehicles are more powerful, and electric and hybrid vehicles can be more difficult to hear approaching.

For those who live and work beside the B3078, these changes have made entering and leaving private driveways, businesses and side roads increasingly difficult and dangerous. The road is also regularly used by cyclists, motorcyclists, slow-moving agricultural vehicles and families travelling to nearby schools. High traffic speeds and the lack of safe provision deter people from walking or cycling into Wimborne, or using local footpaths and bridleways, despite local policies intended to encourage active travel.

Despite these changes, several sections of the road remain subject to the national speed limit, and overtaking is still permitted.

A Longstanding Danger, Not a One-Off

These concerns are not new, nor are they based solely on the three most recent incidents. Over many years, people have lost their lives and numerous other collisions have been reported along the B3078.

Residents and businesses also report less serious incidents and near misses—including sudden braking, warning horns and vehicles leaving the carriageway—that may never be formally recorded.

Official collision statistics are therefore unlikely to capture the full extent of the risk experienced by those who live, work and travel along the road. The collision with our property on 30 April, followed by two further incidents in less than three months, provides stark evidence of this longstanding safety problem:

on 22 June, a car and motorcycle were involved in a collision near Hinton Parva; and
on 13 July, a van left the road in Stanbridge and struck a telegraph pole, disrupting telephone and internet services to local households.
Together, these three recent incidents resulted in road closures and the deployment of emergency services, including the air ambulance.

The Human and Financial Cost

Road collisions also carry substantial human and financial costs. Department for Transport estimates place the average value of a fatal road collision at approximately £2.8 million and a serious collision at approximately £325,000, at 2024 prices. Measures that prevent collisions are therefore an investment in both public safety and public resources.

Proof That Lower Speeds Work

A temporary 30 mph speed limit has now been introduced through Stanbridge to allow contractors to begin repairing the damage to our property safely. Even in the short time it has been in place, it has made a noticeable difference to vehicle speeds and to the sense of safety for those living and working beside the road.

This demonstrates that lower speeds can have an immediate and positive effect. It also raises an important question: if a reduced limit is considered necessary to protect contractors working beside the road, why should residents, businesses and other road users not benefit from appropriate permanent protection?

A Problem Facing the Whole Route

This petition has been prompted by recent incidents in and around Stanbridge, including the collision with our home, but the concerns extend far beyond one property or village.

The B3078 is an important route connecting Wimborne and Cranborne and serving Stanbridge, Witchampton, Hinton Martell, Chalbury, Horton and other nearby communities. It passes homes, businesses, junctions and private entrances throughout its length. Residents, parish councils, businesses and road users across the area all have an interest in ensuring that the whole route is made safer.

We recognise that the B3078 serves a strategic transport function within Dorset and is also used as an alternative when the A31 is congested. Different sections may require different solutions, but carrying through traffic should not take priority over sensible speed management where the road passes through communities, residential areas and locations of particular risk.

The road conditions and speed arrangements must reflect how the B3078 is used today. Department for Transport guidance says speed limits should be evidence-led, self-explaining and aligned with the road environment, taking account of collision history, roadside development, junctions and accesses, and the needs of vulnerable road users. The current national speed limit on certain sections of the route no longer provides a credible message about a safe and appropriate speed.

Dorset Road Safe's own strategy aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries on Dorset roads by 40% by 2030. A comprehensive review of the B3078, followed by lower speed limits and supporting measures, would contribute directly to that goal.

We call upon Dorset Council to:

 - carry out an urgent and comprehensive safety assessment of the B3078 between Wimborne and Cranborne, including the villages, junctions, businesses, property entrances, routes used by families travelling to nearby schools and other areas of concern, supported by a joint site visit with affected communities and, where possible, representatives of Dorset Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner;
 - commit to implementing effective and proportionate measures to reduce speeds, discourage unsafe overtaking and protect all road users;
 - introduce consistently lower speed limits along the route, with further reductions through residential areas and locations of particular risk;
 - support and reinforce those lower limits, where necessary, through measures such as physical traffic-calming or priority arrangements, improved signs and road markings and, working with Dorset Police, effective speed monitoring and enforcement wherever practicable; and
 - publish the action it intends to take, together with a clear timetable for implementation.

We are not asking Dorset Council simply to conduct another review without meaningful change. We are asking it to identify and implement effective improvements before another serious collision—or a fatality—occurs.

Please sign this petition to support urgent action to make the B3078 safer for everyone who lives, works and travels along it; please share it with neighbours, friends and anyone who uses this road — we need as many signatures as possible. 

#SaferB3078Now #Cranborne #Wimborne #EastDorset