Speed cameras could be installed on road in Quarry Bank where tragic accident happened
Dudley Council is looking at putting in traffic calming measures along the stretch of road where a woman was killed after being struck by a vehicle last month.
A passionate meeting of around 100 residents at Thorns Primary School last night heard angry pleas for 'something to be done' along the A4036 Thorns Road, which links Lye with Merry Hill and Dudley.
It followed the death of a woman in her 20s who died on a pedestrian crossing when she was struck by a motorist on the evening of Friday September 29. A petition for traffic calming measures on the road has got more than 1,400 signatures.
Adam Cross, a project engineer for Dudley Council took questions from the residents, who demanded average speed cameras be installed on the stretch, which he said carries 28,000 vehicles a day.
He said the council were looking into the possibility of introducing the cameras as they had worked in two other areas of the borough, between Lye and Drews Holloway in Halesowen, and close to the Burnt Tree Island in Dudley.
Mr Cross said: "It is something we are looking to bring up with the combined authority and the police for funding because it has reduced speeding in the two other areas in the borough.
"There is a cost implication with installing the equipment, operating it and ongoing maintenance but in the other two cases, the system has broken even, in effect paying for itself.
"The vast majority of motorists are responsible in their driving, our statistics have recorded seven collisions in the last three years on the Thorns Road but there may have been near misses and it is clearly a stretch which needs looking at because of the number of schools and parks along it."
A number of residents said they had lived in the Thorns Road area and nearby Caledonia for over 40 years and claimed bad driving and near misses were a 'regular occurrence.'
Councillor Damian Corfield, Dudley Council's cabinet member for Highways and Environmental Services said he had first hand experience of dangerous driving after his son was killed in an incident in Oldbury last year.
He called for legislation punishing speeding motorists to be changed from temporary to permanent and said 'one life lost was too many.'
MP Suzanne Webb who was at the meeting promised the issue of funding would not be a barrier to preventing another accident like the one in September which she described as 'tragic.'
She said: "This road crosses three areas and is a long stretch that people clearly speed on, whether they realise they are doing it or not and we will be having the conversation on how to stop another accident from happening again."