RESIDENTS concerned about a Barnsley road becoming a ‘speedway’ have banded together in an effort to get law enforcement to take action before more people are killed.
Doncaster Road, Ardsley, a long stretch of road with little in the way of traffic calming measures, has been the site of many accidents and near-misses.
With a single speed camera on either side of the 40mph road, drivers can reportedly reach speeds of 70mph as they enter or exit the 50mph zone towards Darfield.
Residents have regularly campaigned for measures including flashing speed limit signs, average speed check cameras and more clear signage than the small 40mph signs currently in place.
Instead, they have had to rely on parked cars to foil would-be offenders by forcing them to slow down, or the crossing guard outside Oakhill Primary Academy.
A group, Speed Awareness Group Ardsley - named because the campaign ‘has been such a SAGA’ - was formed by residents John Evans and Andrew Barton in an effort to collate evidence which can then be shown to police and highways officials as an argument why more is needed on the road.
The pair explained SAGA and its aims to a meeting of Ardsley and Stairfoot’s crime and safety group on Tuesday evening, attended by a dozen local residents as well as Coun Wayne Johnson.
“On many occasions we’ve had a report from the police that the road’s not really as bad as it seems, because they’ve set up the mobile camera on there for a couple of hours a week,” said John, 73.
“But that doesn’t give them the full picture. It’s a speedway, and it’s not getting better, it’s getting worse.
“The suggestion is it’s not really bad until people are killed, but there will be a fatality eventually. How many fatalities is enough?”
Andrew, 52, added: “It’s not every couple of weeks you see someone speeding on there, it’s every day. Everyone in the group is of the same mindset, but getting support from the police and highways department is another challenge.
“The idea behind the group is to have one public-facing forum for telling stories, which can then be used as evidence. It’s proof that these sorts of incidents happen so often. One example happened this week when a Mercedes sped past me and narrowly missed a group of kids crossing the road.
“If he’d have knocked one of them down, he’d have knocked them all down.
“Every time you walk on that road you worry whether you’re going to make it across.”
Coun Johnson said: “I have tried my best to get some action to be taken on that road.
“The point-of-view that it’s not that bad comes from a comparison between every other dual carriageway in the borough. But the people making those comparisons don’t live there, they don’t see it every day.”
Search for ‘Speed Awareness Group Ardsley’ on Facebook.
