A SPATE of accidents on the Whitchurch Road recently has led to renewed calls from residents for an effective scheme to reduce the amount of traffic using it.

Residents say the road is clearly not suitable for the volume of traffic currently using it and the recently installed 'gateway' scheme — designed to slow traffic and deter drivers detouring from the main road — is ineffective and potentially dangerous itself.

Ian Kilpatrick, a local resident, said a gate-post was demolished on Monday night when it was struck by a car and the following morning a car was overturned after a collision with another vehicle.

He said there had been five accidents within the last three months.

'Up until then — and I've lived here for 30 years — we had only one, when an old man was knocked off his bicycle and died,' he said.

'It's getting crazy this road, absolutely stupid and I can't get anyone to do anything about it.'

Mr Kilpatrick said a group of residents began a campaign a year ago to get something done about the increasing numbers of vehicles using the road.

A survey was carried out but they were told traffic speed was insufficient to warrant calming measures.

Mr Kilpatrick claims the survey was done at the section of the road lined with parked cars, where it was impossible for motorists to drive very quickly.

'Then someone came up with this brilliant idea to put in an urban gateway and a stupid rural gateway.

'I'm convinced it's dangerous. You come around the bend in a 60mph zone and suddenly it's only wide enough for one car and there are no signs to say who has the right of way,' he said. 'I'm all in favour of slowing the traffic down, but this has failed to do that.'

Mr Kilpatrick said he has been almost forced off the road on two occasions recently and again on Tuesday.

He said he had spoken to 120 people about the gateways and found only one person in favour. Since then he has written at least once to all the local councillors and Dartmoor National Park.

'I only got four replies out of 14, so I wrote again and got four more,' he said. 'We elected them to do something about our concerns and I'm sure most of the councillors couldn't care less.'

Mr Kilpatrick thinks the road is now being used as a bypass to the busy A386 into Plymouth.

'Cutting the hedge the other day I counted 32 vans and lorries pass me in an hour and a quarter. You can't tell me they are all delivering down here,' he said.

Devon County Council local services officer Mike Parnell said the matter had been raised at a partnership committee meeting with West Devon councillors and they decided not to do anything until a safety audit had been carried out.

That has now been completed by the county council's road safety department, but the results will not become public until the next committee meeting on September 11.

Sgt Brendan Brookshaw said: 'At the moment we are not aware that they have been any accidents. However, we are aware that there are local concerns about the road and we are monitoring it on a daily basis.'