A LACOCK resident has undertaken a private road traffic survey, fearing the speeding traffic on the A350 crossing point at Notton School is an accident waiting to happen.

More than 90 people took part in the survey, and now they are pushing Wiltshire Council to consider traffic measures on the stretch.

“I started the survey after I saw an elderly couple trying to cross at that point on the road,” said Derek Walters, the author of the survey from The Barn in Notton Park.

“It looked suicidal the traffic was moving so fast. And over lockdown a lot of people have been either cycling or walking here and using the route from Notton House School to Reybridge, which means they cross at this point which has a bend in the road.

“The road has a slow left hand corner from the roundabout, and cars come flying around it, probably because they have just come off the motorway and are travelling at 60-70 miles per hour.”

He says he was genuinely surprised by the number of responses he got from local people in the course of the survey which took nearly a month to complete, with 70 per cent of them saying they did not feel safe crossing the road. 91 per cent of them said they felt cars travelled too fast from the Chippenham direction and 80 per cent saying they were going too fast from the Melksham direction.

Many posted comments about the crossing, with one saying it “feels like s a racetrack,” and another saying “you need to consider horse riders. This crossing is used by many.”

Other comments on thde survey which is published on Lacock Parish Council’s website say: “With a young family in Notton, it’s an extreme safety concern. The speed of cars makes crossing hazardous.”

Others call for a speed restriction on the stretch. They were also surveyed on their experience of turning onto and off the A350. The majority considered it unsafe with 73 per cent of them saying it was dangerous turning on to it. One responder said: “I used to work at the school and could hear on a daily basis horns being blown where a vehicle had pulled out in front of a vehicle travelling too fast."

Wiltshire Council said there are currently no plans for any works on this stretch and Cllr Bridget Wayman, Cabinet Member for Highways added: “We encourage people to raise any concerns through their local Community Area Transport Group which will review the information and if a solution is identified it can be delivered. This is a well-established mechanism they can use.”

https://www.lacockparishcouncil.gov.uk/notton-survey/