As I have been informed by the Police recently that this matter is now concluded, I feel at liberty to write about the incident involving my son at the Little Hadham traffic lights in January this year.

Since moving to Standon Road in 2007, I have walked to and from school most days with my children. I am always extremely vigilant beside the road and although the boys like to race ahead of me, as boys do, they know to always wait at the traffic lights so that we can cross the road together. I have seen cars ‘jump’ the lights on red, from the direction of Much Hadham many, many, many times and I always wait for the traffic to stop before telling my boys to hurry across.

This particular morning in January was no different from any other. It was a lovely day to walk to school – sunny and crisp. I remember thinking two or three of my friends must be late for school as I saw their cars dash on to the A120 from the Much Hadham road. As I arrived at the lights pushing the pram, my two older boys were waiting as usual and another couple of cars took their chance and crossed the lights although they were already red by that time. I looked directly at the driver of the third car, a taxi, who pulled up fairly sharpish, and I pointedly looked back to the set of lights on red. Glancing across to Albury Road, I could see there were no cars from that direction and issued my usual instruction of “Off you go – quickly!” Both my boys took me at my word, one more quickly than the other, at which point a car sped past in front of him, overtaking at least two of the cars waiting at the lights and disappearing towards Bishop’s Stortford on the A120. I have been told by people who witnessed this incident that the car missed my 6 year old son by less than six inches. One witness had the presence of mind to note the registration number and I reported the incident to the Police. The driver was local.

Since that time, I have been increasingly aware of driver behaviour at these lights. I regularly see 3 or 4 cars pass the lights on red from the Much Hadham direction on my way to school in the morning. I know that drivers do the same from the Albury Road, given the number of times I have seen vehicles squeeze past each other on the bridge over the River Ash. Less frequently I also witness the insanity of overtaking traffic waiting at a red light. Less frequent doesn’t make it any more acceptable!

These traffic lights are in place for a reason.  And there are long delays on both the Much Hadham and Albury roads. Heaven knows, I have sat many times frustrated at these and other traffic lights because the car in front of me has not been ‘quick off the mark’. But there is nothing in this world so important that anyone should go through a red light, moreover overtaking traffic to do so! The galling thing about all of this is that I believe those who frequently jump the red lights are local (villagers and/or from surrounding villages), because they are aware of the sequence of the lights changing and know
that there are a few seconds’ grace in which they can ‘get through’.

You Know Who You Are! - Don't Do it!

Thankfully, I am still a mother of three boys, but in the blink of an eye that could so easily have been a different story in January. I shall continue to liaise with the Police, Parish Council, Highways Agency and our local MP, Oliver Heald, to ensure that this dangerous habit is stopped. If you are caught jumping a red light, you will automatically get 3 points on your licence and a hefty fine. If you knock someone down and kill them, there is every prospect of a custodial sentence. Plus, of course, the weight on your conscience. Could you live with that?  Don't Think it Could Never Happen...

If you are late for an appointment, school, work or just too impatient to wait – blame the lights, yell at the driver in front from the privacy of your own car, curse yourself for not getting up sooner –

But don't run the gaunlet and put innocents in danger