Road safety call over traffic chaos

PEOPLE living along a road with two schools, two nurseries and sports facilities in Brixham are calling on motorists to stop speeding and ignoring parking laws.

They say Higher Ranscombe Road probably has the highest concentration of public activity in Torbay, with hundreds of children using it every day.

It provides access to Brixham College, Brixham CofE Primary School, two nurseries, the Admiral Swimming Centre and Astley Park, and is close to Brixham Rugby Club.

The road has a 20 miles per hour speed limit between Great Rea Road and Rea Barn Road.

But residents are concerned that people think it only applies during school drop-off and collection times.

They say it gets heavily congested due to the amount of traffic with inconsiderate parking at busy times. Then motorists ignore the speed limit when it is quieter.

Brixham College Residents Association chairman Ann Parker, who lives in Lyte’s Road, said: “It is an enforceable 24/7 limit, not just at school times. A large volume of children are using these facilities seven days a week.”

Residents are also concerned about bad parking by parents collecting schoolchildren, who ignore double yellow lines, which have worn away in some places.

The association has held a meeting with representatives of the police and Torbay Council about the problems.

Mrs Parker said their concerns were taken seriously and police were looking into a speed enforcement campaign.

As well as local traffic, the road is used by buses, and lorries going to and from the Wall Park housing development.

Amanda Booth, a resident of Higher Ranscombe Road for 30 years, said a child was hit by a car a few years ago.

The child was not seriously hurt, but an elderly lady died following a collision with a car around 15 years ago.

Mrs Booth said: “At a meeting in July they told us there was no money to repaint the lines. But the lines have just been repainted in Bolton Street. I would have thought priority would have been given to Higher Ranscombe Road, with the amount of users.”

A spokesman for Torbay Council said: “Torbay Council takes road safety extremely seriously and is committed to ensuring the highways network is as safe as possible.

“The authority has a limited amount of capital funds for the installation of road safety measures. Consequently, any available funds are targeted in areas with the most need.

“We will continue to monitor the situation on our roads and react accordingly to any changes in the safety history.”

The event at Torquay Boys’ Grammar School