Callington town councillors believe new one-way road signs announced for Fore Street in Callington may help to counter incidents of road rage they claim are occurring as a result of current signage being tampered with.

At the most recent town council meeting, Cllr Mike Moore stated that Cormac (Cornwall Council’s highways contractor) had announced at the Caradon Neighbourhood Network’s last (virtual) meeting that new, larger, more robust one-way signage is to be installed on Fore Street, which will be more difficult to tamper with or damage. Cllr Moore continued by saying that troublemakers have recently been turning the one-way sign situated by the traffic lights around or upside down, which is causing motorists confusion over who has priority in the direction of travel.

When the signs are in incorrect positions, motorists travelling in either direction are caused to believe they both have priority of travel when driving down the road, when in fact, only those travelling towards the traffic lights do, which is in turn reportedly leading to incidents of road rage and aggression between motorists travelling in opposing directions towards one another.

Cllr Moore said: ‘Some local brightsparks are turning the one-way sign by the traffic lights round or tampering with it so that it can only be viewed in a certain way. It’s general hooliganism causing this — people are coming out of pubs late at night and turning signs around or causing damage to plants on Briscombe Lane. When the signage is tampered with, people mistakenly think that they have priority when they cross the lights heading into the town centre but this isn’t the case or they can’t comprehend what the signage means or they don’t see it. It is restricted in this direction of travel — those heading up towards the traffic lights out of the town centre have priority. This has resulted in a number of incidents. I have been verbally attacked for travelling up the road in the correct direction by someone coming down in a large vehicle  who then got out and started screaming and shouting at me.’

Cllr Moore also stated that Callington residents have informed him of incidents of road rage they have been involved in. He added: ‘I’ve witnessed incidents when walking or driving through the town too. I’d estimate it occurs a couple of times a day. It’s quite frequent.’

Despite the occurrence of such incidents, PC Jess Floyd of Callington Police confirmed that no incidents have been formally reported for investigation.

This section of Fore Sreet formerly had clear, uninterrupted access in both directions. The main priority access sign in question is situated opposite Pridhams Electrical Centre and stands on the site of a former zebra crossing which was removed in 2013 under a highways improvement scheme for the town and replaced with an island and on-street parking on the left-hand side of the road (when travelling east), which now make this section of the road passable by vehicles heading in one direction at a given time.

On the question of when new signage will be placed on Fore Street, Cllr Moore stated he was unaware of a set date. He said: ‘At the most recent Caradon Neighbourhood Network meeting, the Cormac manager for East Cornwall said something would be done but this would take time due to understaffing. They agreed the sign was not prominent enough and would be replaced but didn’t specify any further details. With cuts to Cornwall Council and the resultant restructuring, no timeframe has been specified as of yet.’

When Corserv, a group of Cornwall Council owned businesses, was approached for comment regarding when new signage would be put in place and how it would better withstand potential damage or tampering, a spokesperson from Cormac said in response: ‘Once we have agreed the most effective solution, we will make sure the new signage is in place as soon as possible.’