Rotherham Council urged to “go further” with road safety measures including average speed camera on “racetrack” road

Members of Rotherham Council’s overview and scrutiny committee supported a petition calling for a number of road safety measures on a road in the borough during a meeting today (May 11).

The petition submitted to RMBC calling for more safety measures on CumwellLane and Kingsforth Lane reached 622 signatures, and was discussed during a full council meeting on April 13.

Conservative councillors Simon Ball for Hellaby and Maltby West and Tom Collingham for Thurcroft and Wickersley South submitted the petition, which was started by Phil Owen.

A report discussed during today’s meeting of the council’s overview and scrutiny management board reviewed the petition, which called for more signs, road cleaning, street lighting and speed bumps, reduced speed limit and speed cameras.

Councillor Simon Ball told the meeting: “For a long time, residents have been saying that this road is unsafe.”

Coun Ball added that he had received a telephone call from a watch manager at Maltby Fire station, who had “various firefighters voicing their concerns, and asking what was being done to make the road safer.

“This shows that the whole area is concerned about this stretch of road, and demonstrates the uneasiness of even the professionals that protect us.

“This road is a racetrack between the villages.

“Something must be done, and indeed quickly. We’ve had eight collisions, two loss of life, four serious injuries and eight slight injuries, all in a short period of time.

“All of which would hopefully be reduced by an average speed camera system.

“We can’t say much about the loss of life incidents … it’s going to the coroner’s court, but I’ve been in touch with both families, I’ve just got to say, my condolences again, it must be so upsetting.

“We welcome the improvements to the road, but we think we could go further. I would urge this council to look at the inclusion of average speed cameras.

“This will ensure those travelling on the road will adhere to the speed limit and ultimately save lives.”

Paul Woodcock, strategic director, regeneration and environment at RMBC told the meeting that new signs warning of hidden dips and the possibility of ice and regular inspections of the road have been implemented, and the legal process has begun to reduce the speed limit to 50mph.

“We are also looking at resurfacing Kingsforth Lane on the Thurcroft side, and as well as that resurfacing the new central road stubs, highway markings, verge markers, there’s already verge markers but they will be improved and replaced where needed,” added Mr Woodcock.

“Parts of the highway will have red hatched surface markings for example by the landfill site entrance, as well as two vehicle activated signs to slow down.”

“Although we haven’t got a formal commitment to supplying those cameras with the police, it’s their responsibility through the camera partnership,” said Andrew Moss, interim head of transport infrastructure, planning, regeneration and transport.