Wildflower meadows are beautiful; so beautiful in fact that a village in Britain has found they act as natural speed traps from motorists slowing down to look at them.
The village of Long Newton in Gloucestershire has a problem with fast moving through-traffic between nearby towns. Almost all drivers going through the village break posted speed limits, and neither a 30 mph limit, nor warning signs made any difference.
Officials first planted flowers along the roadside during the pandemic to help improve biodiversity. But they noticed that as well as attracting more wildlife, motorists also slowed down when they passed the flowers.
Putting two and two together, the village is now relying on its flowers to do the work that the road signs could not, paying for the blooms with crowdfunding in the village.
“Evidence has shown that if you introduce things like wildflowers, drivers will slow down because they feel like they’re coming into somewhere that’s looked after,” said Jenny Forde, cabinet member for health and wellbeing at Cotswold District Council.
Wouldn't it be lovely if wild flowers not only improved biodiversity and natural beauty, but also succeeded in slowing traffic? It's perhaps the ultimate in 'traffic calming' measures.
Restoring Britain's Wild Flower Meadows: When Prince Charles read Plantlife UK's report a decade ago, he was horrified to find that England had lost 97 percent of all its natural wildflower meadows. As a long standing champion of sustainability and biodiversity, the future king of England decided to take action.