Call for urgent action at accident blackspot; DANGER: Council pledges to listen to residents' safety fears over busy main road.Byline: By Jenny Waddington WORRIED resident Paul Brookes is calling for action to be taken at an accident blackspot An accident blackspot is a term used in road safety management to denote a place where accidents are concentrated. It may occur for a variety of reasons, such as a sharp drop or corner in a straight road, so oncoming traffic is concealed, a hidden junction on a fast road, poor or on a busy main road in Coventry. Mr Brookes is urging the police and the city council to take drastic steps before someone is killed on a notorious stretch of Allesley Old Road. He says there have been six accidents there in the past two months. Lampposts have been knocked down, hedgerows destroyed and fencing broken. Mr Brookes, aged 54, who lives in Allesley Old Road, Chapelfields, believes the damage is caused by speeding motorists leaving the city, who are not sticking to the 40 mph limit. He said: "I have lived here since 1989 and there has always been a problem with that S-bend because people come round the corner too fast. "Drivers lose control on the bend and end up going into the fence or the hedgerow hedgerow Fence or boundary formed by a dense row of shrubs or low trees. Hedgerows enclose or separate fields, protect the soil from wind erosion, and serve to keep cattle and other livestock enclosed. . "I am amazed a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. that nobody has died yet - it is a potential deathtrap death·trap n. 1. An unsafe building or other structure. 2. A perilous circumstance or situation. Noun 1. ." In the past two years, he's written several letters to the police and Coventry City Council asking them to take action. In the latest accident, a large illuminated sign illuminated sign illuminate n → Leuchtzeichen nt at the side of the road was flattened and 80 yards of fencing was destroyed. Mr Brookes added: "The cost to the rate payers of Coventry must be considerable. Surely something should be done to reduce and calm the speed in this area." Insp Stuart Bell, of Little Park Street police station, said he had not received any letters about the road and had been unaware of any issue until now. A spokesman for Coventry City Council said: "We are always prepared to listen to any potential road safety fears that residents want to raise as we take these issues extremely seriously. "Personal recorded injury accidents are logged by the police and we use this information to determine our Local Safety Scheme programme, which are schemes to try to reduce injury accidents. "At all these locations six personal injury accidents have been recorded in a three year period. "Our records currently show two recorded injury accidents in this location in the last three years. However, there is a time delay in this information being received of approximately three months." CAPTION(S): DT290208ROAD4 HAZARD... Paul Brookes stands at the site where cars have knocked down signs and posts. Picture: Dave Thomas |
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