WESTBURY Town Council has asked for a 30mph speed limit to be enforced on the A350 Trowbridge Road to slow cars down when approaching the newly built roundabout.
They have agreed to submit an application to Westbury Area Board’s community area transport group (CATG) who deal with highways issues in the town.
Several cases have been reported to the town council of lorries overshooting the roundabout, causing them to drive on the opposite side of the road.
The road is currently a national speed limit road of 60mph and is next to residential homes that are only separated by small fences and trees.
In addition to the run up to the roundabout, councillors agreed that the application should ask for the 30mph limit to as far back as Heywood House, to limit the speed on the ‘death trap’ bend on the entrance to the old cement works and the White Horse Country Park.
Cllr Mike Sutton said, “In the last two years, to my knowledge there has been five accidents there, including the chap being knocked off his bike just before Christmas. It’s a terrible bend, it’s a death trap waiting to happen.”
However, cllr Gordon King who chairs the CATG group said, “There is no doubt about it that this is an appalling roundabout and members of the CATG have said that nobody should be taking that bend at over 50mph, but in order to have the 30mph speed limit implemented to as far up as Heywood House, as suggested, CATG would have to commission a traffic speed assessment, and these are not cheap. Given the fact that we have five other priorities that money is being spent on already, it’s unlikely to get support. A traffic speed assessment costs around £2,000, which doesn’t seem a lot of money but when you only have £10,000 as a group, it is. ”
Despite this, Westbury Town Council decided to put forward the idea to the CATG.
Cllr Sheila Kimmins said, “We know this is a death trap, we know that at some point someone is going to be killed there and we have to be seen to have said, ‘We know this is a death trap, we know that Wiltshire Council should know about it’ therefore if something happened, no body can turn around and say ‘Well Westbury Town Council didn’t say anything.’”
