RESIDENTS’ calls for better protection following three years of ‘extremely worrying’ rates of collisions must finally be listened to in order to save lives, a councillor has urged.

Following concerns raised by residents around road safety, Coun Leyla Nayeri, who represents Darton East, submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) to find out the hotspot areas where its ambulances had attended road traffic incidents in the ward she represents over the last three years.

The information provided by YAS revealed that Paddock Road and Darton Lane had been the subject of three emergency 999 calls in as many years relating to crashes.

Additionally, nearby Spark Lane showed an increase in the number of 999 calls relating to road traffic accidents.

Coun Nayeri told the Chronicle: “The data that I have obtained is extremely worrying and it confirms the feelings of local residents.

“The approach taken by the council’s road safety team is to wait for serious incidents, including fatalities, to occur before taking action.

“This is not good enough - the approach should be proactive not reactive.

“My fellow Lib Dem councillors and I have been campaigning for several years for better road safety across the borough.

“However, the actions that the council are taking are not enough and are not working.

“In 2023 there was an 18 per cent increase in collisions on Barnsley’s roads and sadly the number of deaths also rose.

“Although the figures for 2024 have not yet been released the incidents that have occurred mean that it was another tragic year for safety on Barnsley’s roads.”

A total of 508 incidents were recorded on Barnsley’s road network in total in 2023 - the latest year available - with 30.5 per cent deemed serious.

According to the statistics which look at the last five years, 54 people have died on the roads, although that figure is set to increase due to two fatal collisions in Barugh Green and near Staincross on the Barnsley-Wakefield border last year.

Peter and Margaret Deeley died following a crash at the junction of Cawthorne Road, Barugh Green Road, Barugh Lane and Higham Common Road in March while six other people - Rubie Morgan-Roller, Lillie Morgan-Roller, Shannen Morgan, Shane Roller and Christopher and Janine Barton all died on Wakefield Road just months later.

Coun Steve Hunt, who also represents Darton East, told the Chronicle he is concerned about the ‘alarming’ speed of vehicles in his ward after the results of a anti-speeding operation included a vehicle recorded at 75mph on Spark Lane.

He added: “I have discussed with council officers and established that these very high speeds were a tiny percentage of vehicles and that they may have been attributed to emergency service vehicles responding to calls.

“Road safety continues to be a high priority for our residents.

“I will continue to work with Couns Nayeri and Dickie Denton to address their concerns with the council’s road safety team.”

South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership staff are continuing to deliver ‘Vision Zero’ which aims to reduce the amount of serious collisions by 50 per cent in the next five years.

A spokesperson said: “As a result of our commitment to delivering Vision Zero the public can expect to see an extensive programme of community engagement and publicity activity, particularly focused on the main casualty groups including young people aged 17 to 24, in a bid to achieve a shift in attitudes and behaviour towards safer roads use.

“A programme of safer roads engineering schemes and local safety schemes of approximately £1.6m per year will also be delivered, as will more police and camera enforcement of road traffic laws in a bid to tackle poor driver behaviour which can negatively impact on road safety.

“There are some major challenges ahead in road safety which we will have to adapt and respond to in future years.

“All this will need to be managed against a backdrop of reducing public sector funding and the resulting impacts this will have on building, operating and maintaining our road network.

“By adopting positive attitudes and behaviours and sharing the responsibility for road safety outcomes we can make a big difference and prevent the needless pain, grief and suffering associated with each and every road traffic collision.”