AN accident between a lorry and minibus has heightened deep concern over large lorries using the B3098 and offshooting narrow countryside roads.
The Three Villages minibus, a community minibus serving local villages, was picking up people between Bratton and Edington for an outing to Swindon on Friday 25th March, when an eastern European lorry on its way to Trowbridge hit the bus at Crossroads Farm.
Fortunately the five people on board were only shaken rather than hurt, and although the minibus escaped with minimal damage, it did render it illegal to drive on the road and had to be hastily repaired so that it can continue to be used by the community. But more crucially, locals believe the incident is just a warning of a collision that could be much worse.
Lorries using the narrow winding B3098, which frequently has no pavement, has long been a concern for the local villages. However, unless there is a serious accident, they believe there is a lack of action from the authorities to do anything about the problem.
The Westbury Area Board had held a meeting with members from local parish and town councils to address the problem less than 10 days before the collision, but concluded that no action could be taken at this time.
Chairman of Edington Parish Council, George Fraser said, “It would cost a lot of money to rebuild the bridge on the Devizes/ Salisbury road which is the cause of the problem because traffic is diverted to the 3098 and there’s no alternative route. We were told in not so many words to grin and bear it.
“They have to prioritise accident blackspots and what you get with areas like Edington is crunches or shunts or minor things that don’t count. Statistically it’s not a high priority so it’s not going to happen.”
George was also on the minibus during the incident on the 25th March. “The damage that was done fortunately was quite small, but the margin of safety was probably about a foot,” he explained. “If he’d been a yard further forward it could have been a very serious accident indeed.
“The problem of heavy lorries following sat nav is a perennial one here and there’s nothing we can do, we’re powerless. The traffic is using roads which they are just not built for.”
