TAVISTOCK residents have called for traffic lights to replace a ‘dangerous’ zebra crossing on Plymouth Road following a collision there last Thursday (April 26) which left a man hospitalised.

The crossing outside Texaco Garage on the busy road has been an area of concern for pedestrians for many years who felt it had become ‘increasingly dangerous’ — and following the latest incident which saw a car collide with a man on the zebra crossing, residents are saying enough is enough and appealing for the installation of traffic lights.

Colin Hall, whose son John Hall was injured in the accident, said: ‘John’s leg was broken from the accident and he is still in hospital waiting for surgery.

‘I think the crossing should be traffic lighted — this is not the first time this has happened. There is far too much traffic and the vision on the crossing is not good.’

Whitchurch mum Rhea Walker seconded Mr Hall’s concerns and added that ‘you are risking your life every time you cross the road’.

‘You have to have eyes at the back of your head and hands everywhere so you can cross the road safely with children. What is it going to take for someone to put traffic lights up at the crossing?

‘I understand that the man who was knocked down last week has to have surgery as his leg was broken — if that’s done that to an adult what would that have done to a child? Traffic lights at this crossing would make it much easier and safer — there are hazards everywhere.’

The crossing is in plain sight of the forecourt attendants at Texaco Garage who reported that they witnessed approximately two to three near misses each week.

Graham Watson, who has been a forecourt attendant for more than three years, said that the crossing was becoming ‘increasingly dangerous’.

‘It is a busy crossing, especially first thing in the morning with parents taking their children to school.

‘It’s the speed of the vehicles on that road and you can tell they are not aware of the crossing — but I am not sure why? Maybe it’s the number of different hazards around the crossing?

‘There was a petition a while ago from nearby residents to install traffic lights but in the end they put in an LED beacon instead of a yellow globe and painted the poles.

‘As a driver I think I believe traffic lights would be much better, or, to make the area safer, you could do away with the crossing and put it somewhere else as where it is now is not safe.’

West Devon police inspector Mark Sloman said that the police would be working in conjunction with Devon County Council and the Highways Department to see if there was anything that could be done to make the area a safe place for commuters and pedestrians.

A spokesperson from Devon County Council said it carried out annual collision reviews of the county’s road network — part of that process involved identifying sites where collisions ‘clustered’ in unusually high numbers over a five-year period.

He added: ‘Further investigation is undertaken at cluster sites to determine if there is a pattern to the cause of collisions which may suggest whether incidents may be likely to re-occur and an engineering or education solution can be found to reduce the number of collisions.

‘This isn’t a cluster site but it will be looked at again in the light of the most recent incident.’