Call for lower speed limits to protect New Forest ponies

A NEW lower speed limit should be set in the New Forest to stop ponies “being used like ping pong balls”, according to a district councillor.

Cllr David Hawkins told a meeting of the district council’s community and leisure overview and scrutiny panel: “We need to drop the speed, animals are being killed.”

There is a 40mph speed limit on unfenced Forest roads, which drops down to 30mph in many villages. On fenced A-roads the national speed limit applies.

He added: “They are being used like ping pong balls by idiots.”

Other councillors said it was not just speeding motorists who are a problem.

Cllr Alan Glass said: “Having recently attended a road safety meeting I am sorry to say that we have the worst record for safety in the area.

“A lot of the reason for that is down to cyclists. They ride all over the road and I wonder if there is anything we can do to mitigate the dangers.

“The New Forest is good for cycling in, but races? Do we really want races in it?”

Speaking to the A&T after the meeting, Cllr Glass said: “I am not anti-cyclists, far from it. But there are a minority who do not respect other road users.

“The other day a friend of mine who is a lorry driver was coming up to the brow of a hill when he was met with a large group of cyclists heading straight towards him at speed, spread right across the whole of the road.

“Two of them bounced off the front of his truck. Unfortunately some cyclists are just very anti-social in the way they treat the roads and the Forest.”