More speed restrictions (and even slower journey times)?

Following the recent sad death of cyclist Steve Moir, local Trumpington councillor Katie Thornburrow has called for a formal consultation process to begin on reducing speeds on the Busway. It's not clear from the report in the Cambridge Independent just who should be consulted, and there's no indication that consultation should await the Health and Safety Executive's investigation into that most recent incident. It's also unclear whether she is proposing that speed reductions should apply solely to that stretch of the Busway between Hills Road and the Addenbrooke's turn-off.

Currently, unless otherwise designated, the maximum permitted speed along the Busway is 56mph (ie the imperial equivalent of 90km per hour). But there's a general maximum of 30mph on the single track section and on approaches to guided sections, a maximum of 40mph on "burst throughs", and an obligation on drivers to observe any specific limits imposed, through the use of signage, at other points along the Busway (eg Girton/Histon footpath crossing, Fen Drayton Lakes, Hills Road bridge - this isn't intended to be a complete list, just those I can call to mind immediately).

Apparently, safety measures including installing warning signs, lower fencing and extra road markings have already been agreed for the Long Road stretch, with the final works expected to be completed in October.

Damaged track between St Ives and Fen Drayton

As already noted in a comment on this blog, there is a 10mph speed restriction on the busway just east of the Ouse Viaduct. I asked a driver today and he told me that the track had been damaged by someone driving a trailer over that section. I'll take a closer look and hopefully get a photo.

Here's a photo taken by David Parrish, who writes in an email 'if buses can safely pass through gaps at 40mph, then 10mph for this chip seems rather cautious'. The damage is so close to the end of a beam, that I wonder if it's degradation of the concrete due to mechanical stress from passing buses, and perhaps exacerbated by the effects of freeze/thaw during the winter and early spring. Hugh from Cambridge suggests that the drivers story doesn't sound like the whole story.

Does anyone have any other opinions or ideas? Has anyone talked to other bus drivers?

Photo by David Parrish. 2013.