TV star Ben Fogle “nearly died” after almost being hit by a delivery van near his home in a village outside Henley, sparking calls for 20mph speed limits.

The 50-year-old adventurer said his '"life flashed before my eyes" while on a dog walk in Fawley as the delivery driver “careered around a blind bend, threw on its brakes and skidded to a halt”.

Mr Fogle said the driver stopped “just a few feet” from him and his dog. 

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In a public post on Friday, he issued a plea for the council to reduce the 60mph speed limit to 20mph and launched a petition for the change.

He said: “I nearly died yesterday. Not on Everest or in some remote jungle. Not on an ocean or in a desert, but on a small single track lane outside my home in rural Oxfordshire. 

“Given the things I have done and the risks I have taken, it feels a little ironic that my own near death experience should happen so close to home. Let me explain...

“I was running along the road with my dog at my side. I don't run along the road because I want to run on the road but most land is private.

"I run along the road because it is the only way to reach the fewer and fewer paths and bridleways.

“A delivery driver driving at the perfectly legal, but obviously dangerous 60mph, careered around one of the many blind bends, threw on its brakes and skidded to a halt just a few feet from me and my dog.

“My life flashed before my eyes. Just as it had done when my boat capsized on the Atlantic Ocean and when my oxygen bottle exploded on Everest, but this was on a dog walk outside my home.”

He added how his two teenage children have also come close to injury on the road in the village, which is home to several hundred people. 

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Mr Fogle said: "While my daughter rides her pony along the road because it is the only way to reach the fewer and fewer bridleways, delivery drivers race at the legal 60mph around blind bends to meet home delivery time targets.

“While my son cycles on his bike with the dogs, day visitors, blindly following sat nav and the 60mph speed limit career along the single track pavement, sorry road. 

“The only way I can reach the limited footpaths is on the same single track road that I must share with 60mph delivery drivers. 

“I love living here in this rural idyllic, but I don't want to die because our local council doesn't see fit to implement a 20mph limit for a community that relies on the road as our pavement too. 

“We have imposed the 20mph in places which already have pavements. I am a risk taker, so I don't say this lightly.

"Someone is going to get killed in our village. Both of my children have had near encounters with speeding traffic."

He added: "We are not alone. There are countless other small villages out there who also live with 60mph speed limits through the heart of their community. It is common sense.

"Our local councillor has tried to no avail. Please help us, before we lose someone."

Mr Fogle then captioned the post saying that a member of the Buckinghamshire Council said the speed limit had been "set against the department transport guidance"'.

He believes that no changes will be made until there is a serious accident.

The petition, which runs until May, has already got almost 3,000 signatures. 

Steven Broadbent, Buckinghamshire Council's cabinet member for transport, said: "I am sorry to hear of this resident’s encounter with a dangerously driven delivery vehicle.

"Our speed limits are set against Department for Transport guidance.

"The guidance considers the hierarchy of the road, its character, traffic/pedestrian volumes, vehicle speeds, collision history, and infrastructure in the area to ensure limits are appropriate and legally enforceable.

"As always, we remain responsive to changes in local road and traffic conditions and consider speed limit changes on a case-by-case basis but cannot always agree to every request received.

"We are aware of the ePetition that is calling for the speed limit through Fawley to be reduced from 60mph to 20mph.

"Local residents are of course welcome to add their names and the matter will then be considered formally. The ePetition is open until May 10, 2024."