Coventry locals worried 'racetrack' road crash could soon happen

Despite pleas from locals, the road won’t get speed cameras or bumps to slow cars down as it doesn’t qualify under police or council rules.

Every day hundreds of motorists break the 30mph limit on the long straight of Aldermans Green Road and Parrotts Grove, according to a council survey.

A pensioner was killed by a speeding driver on one of the roads in 2011 and residents say there have been ‘numerous’ near-misses and collisions since.

Residents are so fed up that 56 signed a petition demanding cameras, road narrowing and bumps to calm traffic down.

But the council said the limited funding it gets for traffic calming schemes means roads where this is put in must be prioritised.

As less than six crashes causing injury were recorded on the stretch in the last three years, it is lower on the list than at least 49 other roads in the city.

The road also doesn’t meet criteria to get average speed cameras, the council said, though it is working with police to put in mobile speed enforcement.

But the need for action was stressed at a council meeting yesterday (15 March) where the topic was brought up at the request of petition sponsor, ward councillor Cllr George Duggins.

Cllr Duggins told the meeting it makes sense for speed cameras to go on the road as other stretches of the B4109 leading up to this have them.

He also pointed out that the stretch merges into a 50mph road after the boundary with Bedworth – possibly explaining the high speeds measured.

“This is a racetrack, and it has been for a long time,” he said.

Long-standing resident Mark Collins said the road has been “dangerous” to negotiate since he was a youngster.

“We have got no civil construction features that slow traffic down. We have no roundabouts, we have no central reservations, and no traffic lights in that location,” he said.

“It’s a fairly straight road into Bulkington for three miles, and just less than a mile of that is in the city boundary.

“And that’s where the excessive speeds come from and can be witnessed on a daily basis.”

He said he and residents are “disappointed” at the council’s decision and urged them to reconsider.

“I am always an advocate that prevention is better than cure, and I think it is the right thing to do. The community thinks it is the right thing to do,” he said.

“Simply put, cameras save lives, that’s the way we look at it. We just hope you can reconsider your decision.”

“Bearing in mind what I just told you, bearing in mind the actual physical structures of the road, I think this is going to be a perpetual problem,” he added.

“I hope it doesn’t happen but I think there could possibly be a serious road traffic accident in the near future.”

But meeting chair Cllr Hetherton, the councillor responsible for City Services, said the council is limited in what it can do.