Safety measures cut accident toll on road
New safety measures on a dangerous Hednesford road are already having an impact - even though the work is still to be completed, a campaigner claims.
New safety measures on a dangerous Hednesford road are already having an impact - even though the work is still to be completed, a campaigner claims.
Hednesford councillor Gordon Ball, who has been campaigning for the last seven years to improve the safety of Stafford Lane, said that drivers are now having to cut down their speed.
Councillor Ball's campaign gathered pace following the death of 20-year-old Richard Forbes, from Hednesford, who was killed on the road after his car crashed into a tree in 2007.
His death sparked renewed calls for safety measures and residents handed in a 400-name petition to police and highways bosses highlighting the problems of speeding on Stafford Lane.
The work was originally due to start early next year but Staffordshire County Council secured the funding early and the work has nearly been completed with the only work left to install signs.
The Staffordshire Highways team has installed four raised junctions and one speed table – longer than a normal hump – on Stafford Lane.
The measures have been drafted in as part of a planning condition that was attached to the creation of the Pye Green Valley distributor road.
Stafford Lane has a 30mph speed limit. Some motorists were speeding much in excess of the speed limit with estimated speeds of over 50 miles per hour.
The speed tables have been introduced to cut speeding on the road.
Councillor Ball said: "Both myself and residents have campaigned to have road safety measures implemented on that road for years and finally the work has been carried out.
"It has had a very positive impact so far and the speed of motorists has been reduced dramatically.
"Residents are commenting to me how much affect these speed tables have had in reducing speed so it appears that all the years of campaigning for action has all been worth it in the end.
"The work has nearly been completed now with signs the only things left to install now. People living nearby are really pleased because that was always a very dangerous road."
