Gloucestershire Echo - June 8th 2012
DEMANDS for quick action to slow down drivers on the B4077 have been made by residents.
Villagers in Alderton and the surrounding area have told highway chiefs and police they want the speed limit cut as soon as possible.
Their calls came at a public meeting organised by the force to hear people's concerns.
Many claimed the road was a blackspot, with at least three accidents in the last four weeks.
But officials insisted that there had been just six reported accidents involving injuries between 2007 and 2011.
A group of residents agreed to meet with police, highway bosses and the fire service to come up with ways of slowing down drivers.
The meeting came just two weeks after a teacher died in a crash along the road.
Julie Stodart-Cook died in the collision at Alderton garage on May 26. Two other people – 15-year-old Mike Lewicki and Emma Tudor, 27 – were left with serious injuries.
A police investigation is on-going and the county council is currently speaking to its contractors following recent work on the road surface.
Robert Jones, who lives in Alderton, said the problem was with the road itself rather than the drivers.
"Nobody is doing anything wrong but Alderton is just an awkward village to get to from the B4077," he said.
"A lot of people drive along at 70mph as it looks a fairly straightforward road. But there are all sorts of things cropping up such as hidden turns."
Robert Phillips, who lives in Frampton Cottages, said he had experienced bad driving first-hand on a regular basis.
He added: "It is not the average driver but some of them are coming along there at 100mph.
"They will shout abuse at you out of their windows if they think you are slowing them down. Before now, I have been indicating to turn right on to my drive and somebody has overtaken me as I have been turning.
"There have been a number of times when my partner and I have almost been killed.
"Why should we have to live like that on a daily basis?"
Dave Hornibrook, Gloucestershire's assistant chief fire officer and head of the Road Safety Partnership, said there was nothing any one agency could do in isolation.
"If people are driving too fast and not obeying the rules of the road, then whatever speed limit signs we put up, it will not make a difference to them," he said.
"What we will have to do is look at some inventive and creative ways of reducing the speed on your road together. We will make a difference but we need the help of residents to do this."
DEMANDS for quick action to slow down drivers on the B4077 have been made by residents.
Villagers in Alderton and the surrounding area have told highway chiefs and police they want the speed limit cut as soon as possible.
Their calls came at a public meeting organised by the force to hear people's concerns.
Many claimed the road was a blackspot, with at least three accidents in the last four weeks.
But officials insisted that there had been just six reported accidents involving injuries between 2007 and 2011.
A group of residents agreed to meet with police, highway bosses and the fire service to come up with ways of slowing down drivers.
The meeting came just two weeks after a teacher died in a crash along the road.
Julie Stodart-Cook died in the collision at Alderton garage on May 26. Two other people – 15-year-old Mike Lewicki and Emma Tudor, 27 – were left with serious injuries.
A police investigation is on-going and the county council is currently speaking to its contractors following recent work on the road surface.
Robert Jones, who lives in Alderton, said the problem was with the road itself rather than the drivers.
"Nobody is doing anything wrong but Alderton is just an awkward village to get to from the B4077," he said.
"A lot of people drive along at 70mph as it looks a fairly straightforward road. But there are all sorts of things cropping up such as hidden turns."
Robert Phillips, who lives in Frampton Cottages, said he had experienced bad driving first-hand on a regular basis.
He added: "It is not the average driver but some of them are coming along there at 100mph.
"They will shout abuse at you out of their windows if they think you are slowing them down. Before now, I have been indicating to turn right on to my drive and somebody has overtaken me as I have been turning.
"There have been a number of times when my partner and I have almost been killed.
"Why should we have to live like that on a daily basis?"
Dave Hornibrook, Gloucestershire's assistant chief fire officer and head of the Road Safety Partnership, said there was nothing any one agency could do in isolation.
"If people are driving too fast and not obeying the rules of the road, then whatever speed limit signs we put up, it will not make a difference to them," he said.
"What we will have to do is look at some inventive and creative ways of reducing the speed on your road together. We will make a difference but we need the help of residents to do this."
