During the 2017 General Election campaign, Kevin was approached by a number of constituents when out canvassing in Torquay Road, Preston. They were concerned about road safety in the area, and particularly speeding vehicles and hazardous parking.
Since then Kevin has been in regular dialogue with Torbay council over this matter, and has been pleased to receive this letter today from the Senior Engineer, stating that a controlled crossing is now planned for the area.
You can read the letter below:
Re: Road Safety Concerns – Torquay Road, Preston
I write to you with reference to your recent correspondence with Kevin Foster MP (also copied to the local ward members), regarding Torquay Road in Preston, specifically with regard to pedestrian safety in the vicinity of Pembroke House Surgery. It has been forwarded to me for reply and having noted your comments, I would like to answer as follows:
As you can no doubt imagine this authority receives many requests from concerned parties requesting that road safety measures be introduced at perceived dangerous locations on the road network. However, Torbay Council only has a limited amount of capital funds for the installation of such measures. Consequently, as I hope you can appreciate, any available funds must be targeted at sites where severe speed related collision problems already exist and a saving may be made by reducing these injury accidents.
As part of investigating your enquiry I have carried out a collision analysis along this section of Torquay Road and you will be glad to know that, in the last three years, there have been no pedestrian related injury collisions reported by the Police.
The current uncontrolled crossing facility was implemented near Tesco as part of the Preston Congestion Relief scheme, at the time the authority had no plans to add to or upgrade this facility to a controlled crossing, as it was felt there were adequate controlled pedestrian facilities at the traffic signals.
As you are aware Torbay Council takes the issue of road safety extremely seriously, with our priorities set by the elected members annually, based on evidence based criteria including collision, speed history and priorities from its Local Transport Plan.
However, I can confirm that we are currently working on a proposal for a controlled crossing in this area, a design is nearly complete and trials holes have been undertaken to ascertain the location of any statutory undertaker’s apparatus. Once the design complete, a business case will be presented in order to hopefully gain suitable funding.
In the meantime it should be remembered that all drivers / pedestrians must take responsibility for their own actions and safety. They must drive, park or walk in such a manner and at such speed that it is safe, having regard to the nature of the road, the weather and the traffic conditions.
Pedestrians should always check that traffic has stopped before starting to cross the road, especially where there are two lanes of traffic and the presence of pedestrians may be obscured by any stationary vehicles.
Thank you for taking an interest in the road safety issues currently affecting your area. However, should you require any further information on the points discussed above, then please do not hesitate to contact me on 01803 207665.
Yours sincerely
John Clewer
Senior Engineer