SOURTON is among communities set to benefit from a share of more than £150,000 for traffic-blighted towns and villages as part of a campaign aimed at cutting road deaths to zero by 2040.

The money will pay for two ’road narrows’ signs to alert drivers to people walking along the footpath beside the A386 through the village as it heads south towards Tavistock.

The police-led project, which has a target of cutting fatal collisions to zero in the South West by 2040, had initially committed a total funding pot of £100,000.

However, a call for ideas to communities yielded so many worthy projects that the Vision Zero board agreed to increase funding to allow more schemes to take place. A total of £153,000 will be spent on 34 projects across Devon and Cornwall, including Vehicle Activated Speed signs (subject to agreement with the local highway authorities), new road signs and markings, high visibility neck bands for moorland cattle and ponies and glow in the dark stickers for schoolchildren.

As well as this, a further four projects have been adopted into the Vision Zero South West road safety delivery plan, including providing advanced driver courses for drivers under the age of 25 and engagement events for older drivers, cyclists and young drivers - all of whom are vulnerable road user groups in Devon and Cornwall.

In West Devon, sections of busy roads in Lamerton, Dousland to Princetown and the Bere Peninsula are also set to benefit. On the B3212, Peek Lane, between Dousland and Princetown, a notorious route for speeding drivers heading for the moor, the funding will pay for reflective bands for both moorland cattle and ponies, as well as signs and an electronic Vehicle Activated Sign which flashes at drivers to slow down.

Meanwhile along Ley Lane between Bere Alston and Bere Ferrers, the money will pay for two warning signs and to paint white lines on the road.

A grant will also go towards a speed camera, 30mph speed limit signs and a white safety walkway sign at Lamerton on Old Launceston Road and towards two Vehicle Activated speed signs on the B3362 at Milton Abbot.

Chairman of the Vision Zero South West board Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: ’I’m delighted that we’ve been able to fund and support so many projects, led mainly by volunteers committed to saving lives.’