Road bosses U-turn over A417 blackspot

11:39am Wednesday 14th May 2008

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ROAD safety campaigners have welcomed a U-turn by transport bosses over improvements to a dangerous Cotswolds road which claimed three lives within weeks of each other last summer.

Gloucestershire County Council's Highways department last month ignored pleas to change markings on the A417 between Cirencester and Fairford around the Ampneys in order to prevent overtaking.

Resurfacing work had been carried out on the A417 in April and Ampney Crucis Parish Council lobbied Gloucestershire Highways to change the markings at this time but the original markings were repainted.

But last week was granted its wish when the lines were changed forbidding overtaking.

After carrying out tests on the stretch of road police and highways officers determined that a car travelling at slightly above the 50mph speed limit would have visibility restricted in places.

They also accepted that cars commonly exceeded the speed limit and did not want to encourage reckless manoeuvres such as overtaking.

Ray Theodoulou, chairman of the Cotswold Road Safety Partnership, welcomed the decision.

"It is surprising news but good news," he told the Standard. "It is everybody's experience that traffic was travelling too fast on that road and we don't want people to be tempted to overtake."

Barry Dent, chairman of Ampney Crucis Parish Council, said: "I'm really pleased that we got the change. We felt it was better to err on the side of caution and safety.

"The council is pleased and the villagers are very happy as we use that bit of road the most."

Jenny Watkins from Gloucestershire Highways said: "The speed limit on the road is 50mph and the previous road markings met the Department for Transport guidelines for traffic travelling at 50mph.

"However, in response to continued lobbying from the parish council and others, we re-assessed the road, working with the Police, for vehicles travelling slightly above the speed limit of 50mph.

"At this speed, it meets the criteria for double white lines, so we have been able to introduce them on this stretch of road."