Following the death of a 20-year-old cyclist on a sponsored ride calls are mounting for improvements to a junction of the Downslink path through Waverley where it meets the A281 Horsham-Guildford Road.
The Downslink is a favourite route for cyclists. walkers and horse-riders. However, it crosses a notoriously dangerous section of the A281 Guildford Road from Horsham where the road dips several times from Bucks Green. In recent years the road has been used by many thousands of HGV’s every week mainly reinstating Cranleigh Brick and Tile Works in Knowle Lane and Rudgwick brickworks.
Around 10.45 am on Wednesday, 22 July, police responded to reports of a road traffic collision involving a cyclist and a Renault HGV tipper lorry on the A281 Guildford Road, Rudgwick.
Despite the best efforts of the emergency services, 20-year-old Pathushan Sutharsan died at the scene. Pathu was a second-year student at Brighton University studying architecture, due to start his third year this week. He was taking part in a 120km charity bike ride for Yemen when the collision occurred.
Read more details in the link below:
This crossing has long needed something better happening than 40mph signage.
Not only cyclists use this crossing, but there are also plenty of pedestrians and equestrians having to negotiate this road, riders of horses even need to have their horse’s head and neck out over the road for the rider to even see what is coming.
It has been suggested that there should be self-closing gates on both sides, and yes that would be good. However, I have kept saying for many years, long before the road carried the speeding traffic that it does now, that there should be a traffic light crossing where a rider on a horse has a button to press at their level along with a lower button for everyone else. One was put up at Broadbridge Heath where the new estate has been built…where the vision was perfect and the traffic nowhere near so fast!! No amount of signage is going to make the slightest bit of difference on the A281. There are many, many drivers who either don’t see the signs or care about speed limits and on Sunday they can be even worse, seeing it as some sort of challenge to go as fast as possible up and down through the dip, motorbikes particularly.
This route is promoted as a national trail… it has been dangerous for a long time, tragically someone now has lost their life. The council, the Highways Dept, NEED to listen to the people who live here and use it constantly, DO something before there is another fatality. I have been told this sort of crossing is too expensive, sorry, what cost is a life….
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