Blanket busway speed reduction after deaths

The council has proposed spending £4.7m on barriers along the length of the busway, which is believed to be the world's longest guided bus route

The speed limit on a busway network where three people have died has been reduced to a blanket 30mph (48km/h) for safety reasons.

Jennifer Taylor, Steve Moir and Kathleen Pitts were killed in collisions on the Cambridgeshire Busway between 2015 and 2021.

The county council was fined £6m earlier this year after the deaths and a judge criticised the authority for its "rigid and blinkered response" to the fatalities.

The speed was 56mph (90 km/h) in some places, and it will also be reduced to 20mph at crossing points as part of what the council said was its "ongoing commitment to ensure its safe operation".

Kathleen Pitts (left), Steve Moir (centre) and Jennifer Taylor (right) all died in collisions with buses

The guided busway takes a modified bus along a dedicated track - in some sections currently up to a speed of 56mph (90km/h) - and serves Cambridge, St Ives and Huntingdon.

Ms Taylor, 81, was hit by a bus when she crossed the track on foot at Fen Drayton in November 2015.

Mr Moir, 50, fell into the path of a bus in Cambridge after clipping a kerb with his bicycle that separated him from the busway, in September 2018.

Pedestrian Kathleen Pitts, 52, was struck by a bus on the same stretch in October 2021.

The council admitted two health and safety breaches, leading to its fine.

Permanent fencing and barriers are now being put in across the whole network and they are expected to be finished by the end of 2026.

The council said the speed limit would be revised as each section of fencing was completed.

A speed limit of 15mph (24km/h) would also be introduced on the maintenance track that runs alongside the busway, used by pedestrians and cyclists, and motorcycles would be banned.