Call for action at accident blackspot (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Call for action at accident blackspot

8:20am Monday 8th October 2012 in News By Janet Gleeson

CAMPAIGNERS are calling for urgent action at an accident blackspot after a car crashed into the front window of a sheltered housing complex.

A car careered out of control at the junction of Firby Road, Sussex Street and Masham Road, in Bedale, at about 10am on Tuesday, before crashing through a garden wall.

It then crashed into the front window of the common room at Samwaies Court, a sheltered housing complex for elderly people run by Broadacres.

No one was in the room at the time.

Firefighters and police went to the scene, but it is understood no one was injured. The driver was taken to hospital for a check-up.

The crash follows the death of an 85-year-old Bedale man at the same junction when his mobility scooter and a car collided.

The town council has called on North Yorkshire County Council to carry out a review to see what can be done at the junction.

Residents say the incident could have been far worse.

Tom McEneany, who lives in Firby Road, said: “ I couldn’t believe it when I heard there had been another crash at the junction.

“We don’t know what happened here, but it is a dangerous junction.

“After the last crash, it is extremely worrying that there has been another at the same place.”

Campaigner Brian Hall, who also lives in Firby Road, has been fighting for 20 years to have a crossing sited there.

He said: “This could so easily have been been far worse.

Are they waiting for someone else to be killed before they do something?

“There are five roads leading into the same place – it is the most dangerous junction in Hambleton District.

“It is used by the most vulnerable members of our community – apart from Samwaies, there is a doctor’s surgery, two schools, old people’s bungalows and many family homes.”

A spokesman for the council’s highways department said its investigation into the site of the fatal collision was due to conclude and it regularly reviewed accident sites.

He said: “We take all these things very seriously and investigate them thoroughly.”