Finchampstead Junction Audit Reveals Safety Concerns

One crash was recorded at Finchampstead's redesigned California Crossroads in its first year, a road safety audit has found.

The collision involved a car hitting a pedestrian on Nine Mile Ride about 30 metres west of the junction. It was recorded as slight and happened between October 2024 - September 2025 after completion of the £5.5m controversial transformation.

The audit, commissioned by Wokingham Borough Council and carried out by WSP, said the crash was "very unlikely" to have been caused by the new layout.

It recorded contributory driver factors including being affected by alcohol, driving aggressively or dangerously, and failing to observe properly.

No personal-injury collisions were recorded within the scheme's boundaries in the three years before construction (April 2021 - March 2024). Although figures suggest a slight increase after the changes, auditors said this was very unlikely to be statistically significant because only one collision was recorded. No fatal or serious personal-injury collisions were recorded either before or after the changes.

But the audit flagged several safety concerns from a June site visit.

Auditors saw vehicles mounting kerbs and footways at two corners of the junction, including when turning from Finchampstead Road into Nine Mile Ride, and recommended installing flexible marker posts or similar bollards.

Vehicles were also seen entering the shop parking area from the wrong direction, ignoring signs; the report recommends adding directional arrows to road markings to make the correct route clearer.

A fuel-price sign at the Gulf petrol station was still obstructing visibility between a pedestrian crossing and approaching traffic; the auditors said it was unclear whether the petrol station owner had been consulted and recommended resolving the issue.

Debris was found at pedestrian crossings, and some bollards near the Red Oak Stores parking area lacked reflective bands and appeared to have been struck. The report recommends clearing the crossings, setting up regular sweeping and making bollards more visible.

The auditors noted comments from the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association about the junction's suitability for people with sight loss, but said their collision-focused assessment had not recorded any personal-injury collisions at the four main pedestrian crossing points since the scheme was introduced.

The redesigned junction replaced the former double mini-roundabout layout with coloured leaf-pattern road markings and informal pedestrian crossings. Work was completed in September 2024.

The full Stage 4 Road Safety Audit is available on Wokingham Borough Council's website. The report will be discussed at a scrutiny committee meeting at the council on Wednesday night (October 21).

Katie French, Local Democracy Reporter