AN ACCIDENT last week in Whitchurch Road has reinforced calls for sleeping policemen to be installed to prevent a more serious incident with possible fatal results.
Ray Hurle of Priory Close said that after playing what he described as 'Russian Roulette' for the past 23 years, his luck had run out last Thursday, as he was exiting his road on to Whitchurch Road.
'I did the usual look left/right and started to pull out and turn left when a vehicle approaching from my right came into sight.
'I braked and pulled into the left but the other vehicle struck my offside front wing, bounced off to the right and glanced against a house railing and finished up 50 yards further on, in the middle of the road,' he said.
Mr Hurle said he believed every resident of Priory Close, Chollacott Lane, Warran Lane and Chollacott Close would be happy to sign a petition requesting Devon Highways to install sleeping policemen in strategic spots along Whitchurch Road.
Mr Hurle said: 'On each of these roads you cannot see very far to the right and, if traffic is approaching too fast, the chance of an accident is very high. In an ideal world everyone would drive at a safe speed which, in Whitchurch Road, would be less than the speed limit, but this just does not happen and some action must be taken by the authorities before another fatality occurs.'
He said neither driver was hurt on this occasion, but if he had turned right, probably both parties 'would have died or suffered serious injuries'.
Mr Hurle thanked the local residents who rushed to help and the police, ambulance and fire service who arrived quickly and were 'quite magnificent.'
A spokesperson for Devon County Council said there were 'no plans to introduce traffic calming on Whitchurch Road'.
Borough and town councillor for the area, Ted Sherrell, said he entirely agreed with Mr Hurle.
'Real, practical traffic calming measures are needed urgently in Whitchurch Road, something which has been sought for a decade or more.
'The idiocy that is the "Rural Gateway" was claimed by the county council as being for traffic calming on Whitchurch Road, which is surely absurd. Measures such as sleeping policemen are needed along the entire length of the road, from Whitchurch Post Office to Abbey Bridge, and are needed now,' he said.