'Only a matter of time before someone is killed at crash-a-month Sheffield junction', says businessman

Ken Torres says he has looked out on the busy junction of Brightside Lane and Fell Street for decades but “can no longer keep quiet” about the number of bangs, shunts and collisions he sees each year.

Now, in light of the latest collision in January between a lorry and an oncoming car that saw one person taken to hospital, Mr Torres says he is calling for the council to “take action before it is too late.”

“All of my workers are used to going to the window whenever they hear a bang,” said the businessman.

“It is terrible and it’s gone on for too long. How much does it cost to put up a sign or make a better filter lane? How much is a life worth?”

Sheffield City Council claims there have only been two accidents that resulted in injury in the last five years. The Star has asked how many crashes have occurred, with or without injury.

Mr Torres claims the issue is that cars travelling north east on busy Brightside Lane - an industrial estate - are colliding with oncoming cars if they take the junction into Fell Street.

He called the junction “unclear” and that cars travelling in either direction will see green lights on approach.

“It needs dedicated lights, or a new filter lane, or even just a sign to make it more obvious,” he said.

“All of my staff would happily sign an affidavit that they see a crash every month.

“It is clear to me there is a problem, so why won’t the council act before someone is hurt?”

In the recent collision on January 28, CCTV appeared to show a lorry travelling north east on Brightside Lane attempted to turn right and cross three lanes to enter Fell Street, and was in a collision with an oncoming car.

One person was taken to hospital. South Yorkshire Police was contacted for a comment.

Sheffield City Council Chair of the Transports Policy Committee, Councillor Ben Miskell, said it must focus its efforts on accident blackspots “with the highest injury collision rates in the city.”

He said: “However, due to limitations on our resources, we have to assess and prioritise locations according to certain criteria with those with the highest rates prioritised. Although we want to make all of the city’s roads as safe as possible, we have to focus on the locations with a history of previous collisions first before we can move onto those with few or none.

“I can completely understand the desire for road safety measures to be implemented at Brightside Lane and our officers will continue to monitor the situation, however there are areas in the city with higher collision records and we must focus on those locations first.”