Why is preventing deaths not on the ‘to-do’ list?

JOHN RACE, Staincross

After reading two recent reports in the Chronicle about road traffic safety issues, I thought, have the residents in Staincross been abandoned?

In Royston a new roundabout on Lee Lane has become a problem for motorists to negotiate, crashing into a lamp post, a fence, and house and there are many traffic issues at the road junction of Keresforth Road and Sainbrough Road in Barnsley.

People have been injured, though there have been no road deaths, with both locations being discussed in council meetings. The voice in the cabinet for environment and highways, coun James Higginbottom, has raised awareness of public’s concern about road safety to his highway colleagues, who have become involved to assess what can be done and when.

This brings me to a more serious subject of road deaths in Staincross, one on Paddock Road, and the other on Shaw Lane.

The first a collision of vehicles and the latter an elderly man on a mobility scooter using a drop kerb road crossing point on his way to Paddock Road, who was hit by a fast moving road vehicle.

Many times over the past year the daily dangers that motorists and pedestrians face on these roads, including the connecting Staincross Common and Greenside, have been brought to the attention of the council but it has brought no change.

It’s a total rejection to providing a better and safer environment on the highway, and they recently confirmed that they have no plans to change the existing conditions.

It is a puzzle why preventing road deaths is not on their to-do-list.

What will it take for coun Higginbottom and his highway colleagues to change their minds from doing nothing but send in lifeboats?