Village speeding fears spark clashes with drivers

Concerns about speeding along a road are leading to angry clashes between drivers and villagers, who describe it as a "rat run".

Long Street in Great Ellingham, Norfolk, is a key route into the centre of the village, but it has no pavements, and lorries, tractors and other large vehicles frequently travel on it.

A Speedwatch group's monitoring shows, on average, more than a quarter of drivers exceed the 30mph speed limit.

Norfolk County Council is implementing road safety measures, but campaigners want more. Christopher Price, 79, said it could be "terrifying" using the road on his mobility scooter.

"Most drivers don't seem to see you until they're on top of you," he added.

"They are not concentrating. You have to get ready to jump off your scooter or fall off it."

Patricia Price said she worried every time her husband uses the road, and she has suffered abuse when trying to get people to slow down.

The 75-year-old said: "I've been shouted at, driven at, and had people get out of their vans and threaten to attack me.

"Only reaching for my mobile phone stopped them from me coming to harm."

She said she has spoken to other people who are considering moving because of the problems.

"They want to move, but they are worried it is going to be very difficult because of the road being so dangerous," she added.

Residents believe the amount of traffic has increased on the stretch of road in recent years due to roadworks on the A11, Thickthorn Roundabout and the A47 dualling works. As a result, the works have meant more motorists are using Long Street to travel between the A11 and Dereham.

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Peter Joyce, 75, is the community Speedwatch coordinator. His group's monitoring has found traffic has increased from 59,500 vehicles over a month in April 2022 to 91,700 in April 2025 - a 54% increase.

The group believes this shows that significantly more vehicles are using the rural route each day than Active Travel England considers safe.

Joyce believes the latest guidance from the government agency, which is aimed at promoting walking, wheeling and cycling, supports their calls for a 20mph speed limit zone to be introduced due to the high vehicle flow and pedestrians walking on the road due to no pavement.

But so far, he has been told Long Street does not meet the criteria for road safety improvements.

He worries it will take a fatality for the speed limit to be dropped.

"Norfolk County Council's highways department says we don't meet the criteria for any change because we've not had a fatality here," Joyce said.

"Why should somebody have to lose their life to make a change?"

Norfolk County Council said that while the road does not meet the criteria for lowering the speed limit, other road safety measures are being deployed.

This included installing 30mph speed limit repeater signs and a SAM2 sign, which is a vehicle-activated electronic traffic sign that detects the speed of approaching vehicles and displays a warning message.

A spokesperson said: "We have been working with the parish and former local member for some time to investigate and find solutions to improve road safety in the village.

"Speeding can only be enforced by the police."

Norfolk police has been approached for comment.

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