Petition urges action over ‘danger’ road
A CONCERNED resident has urged Durham County Council to act over a “dangerous” road that has seen multiple crashes.
Nicky Robinson, 26, said he has seen a number of nasty crashes happen on the A181 near Thornley and Cassop in County Durham, some of which were fatal. The Thornley resident has now said it is “only a matter of time” before someone else dies on the road and is calling for it to be made safer.
He has since launched a petition calling for the council to implement a roundabout or traffic light system which would help “slow traffic down”. Nicky said the main problem is that the visibility around the junctions is “poor” meaning drivers are hesitating when pulling out.
The resident explained: “I have lived here all my life and it’s just terrible. It’s really dangerous to pull out of the junctions because the visibility isn’t great and it’s a 60mph road.
“Because of the poor visibility, some drivers are hesitant when pulling out so it’s really dangerous and there have been so many crashes. One of my friends is currently in hospital because he crashed about a week and a half ago.
“There have also been some fatalities and there’s only a matter of time before someone else dies on this road.
“There are some people that think it’s just
down to the drivers, and a few of them probably are, but this is a really bad road. I think the council really needs to act now.”
Nicky said residents have raised issues with the council previously but said “no changes have ever been made”.
He is now urging the council to make changes to the road to make it safer for both drivers and residents. He said: “There has been a huge amount of people complaining about this road and rightly so, it can take ages to pull out of the junction too which can cause accidents in itself.
“I think the best option would be a roundabout or a traffic light system because then it would slow both sides down and make it much safer. Durham County Council has the power to change this.”
The petition, which is being backed by local councillors including Trimdon and Thornley’s Jake Miller, has so far received more than 500 signatures.
In response, Mark Jackson, Durham County Council’s head of transport and contract services, said: “While we are unable to make significant structural changes to the A181 without acquiring land and funding, we are investigating what further preventative measures can be put in place to benefit traffic flow in this area.”