Campaigners plea to make 'death trap' road safer

A safety campaign to make a 'death trap' road safer is being stepped up.

Residents have been pleading with council officials to improve safety on Pennyquick Hill and Whiteway Road for more than five years.

PICTURE: Kevin Bates

They say speeding cars and the sheer weight of traffic are to blame for the many accidents on the road.

Now Bath and North East Somerset Council has announced it will be reviewing the road's safety record to see if measures such as traffic lights would reduce accidents.

Local resident, 80-year-old David Harnden, said he was desperate for the council to do something about speeding.

He said: "The council has been dealing with this road for many years now but it has grown out of all proportion."

He said he was aware of at least a dozen deaths on the road.

"We have seen so many accidents and just wonder when it will stop.

"It is ridiculous. I have been trying to get some kind of safety measure along that road for so many years but hopefully now the council really will do something about it.

"That road is like a death trap; it has claimed so many lives. We all hope it won't continue."

Mr Harnden had a meeting with Cllr Paul Crossley (Southdown, Lib Dem) and B&NES highways engineer Peter Bailey.

Cllr Crossley said he and other councillors in the area had been lobbying for changes for more than five years.

He said: "The road here is busy but is getting even busier.

"I have been with council officers looking at different sections of the road.

"There are so many danger points along the road, such as at the junction with the cemetery, and I am hoping the council will put some pedestrian traffic lights up there."

A council spokesman said that following what he called "a constructive meeting" with local residents, officers would now analyse traffic data and gather more information, such as traffic counts.