Anyone using Henllys Lanes knows how busy & dangerous they are. These country lanes which are exactly that, country lanes, are now being used as & taking volumes of traffic of a main road with huge lorries, delivery vans & often speeding vehicles making the road unsafe for motorists, pedestrians, horse riding, wildlife, walkers, runners etc alike. Rush hours are of course particularly dangerous. It's a miracle there hasn't already been one, but fatalities are simply inevitable left as they are.

Currently Road Traffic Accidents are running at 1 per month in these lanes that we know of, way above levels deemed remotely safe, with countless near misses reported on an almost daily basis. According to the Department for Transport's own figures, in 2021, there were 60% more fatalities on rural lanes than there were urban. 

Yet in Wales, as of September 2023, there will be a 20mph limit in urban areas, yet nothing in place for our significantly more dangerous rural roads. Indeed we will have the preposterous situation of a double sided sign post telling you to do 20mph in the much less dangerous area, but to do 40mph in the much more dangerous area with many not even stick to that! It's not just the speed, but the erratic driving too with motorists often swerving on the wrong side of the road to avoid potholes.

We implore Torfaen County Borough Council and the Welsh Government to urgently implement traffic calming measures in Henllys Lanes. Failure to do so will almost certainly lead to avoidable fatalities.

Reasonable, non exhaustive measures that we feel could be reasonably implemented are:

Speed bumps

Reduction to 20mph, enforced by GoSafe

Road markings

Warmest regards