A WOMAN who lives by a notorious blackspot has called for action to improve the safety of the road following a crash involving a refuse lorry.

Lynne Ronaldson lives at Hurst Cottages by the Hurst Bridges on the B3390 near Crossways and has seen numerous road accidents outside her home since she moved in 12 years ago.

The latest in a long line of accidents witnessed by Miss Ronaldson involved a refuse vehicle from Purbeck District Council.

Miss Ronaldson, 44, said: “A car came flying round the corner just as our refuse was being collected and they couldn’t stop in time.

“They couldn’t go round the refuse lorry as another lorry was coming the other way.

“It went straight into the back of it.”

Miss Ronaldson said she has witnessed so many accidents by the bridges she cannot understand why nothing has been done to improve the safety of the road.

She said: “I used to keep a list of all the accidents I had seen but it just became too many.

“What has got to happen before they do actually see it as an issue?”

The authority said SITA, which collects refuse and recycling on behalf of the council, had suggested asking Miss Ronaldson to take her rubbish to a lay-by across the road, but that was deemed too much of a risk to her safety.

Miss Ronaldson said: “I’m glad they’ve seen sense. There’s no way I was going to drag rubbish across the road.”

Purbeck District Council’s principal officer for waste management Neil Randall said: “It was agreed that this was not a suitable solution on the grounds that if it is dangerous for SITA’s trained staff wearing high visibility clothing to wheel a bin across the road, it is certainly dangerous for a resident to do so.

“The solution is to put the resident onto a sack collection. This would mean the bags could be collected in one go, minimising the risk to the crew.”

Mr Randall added: “We would never ask a resident to cross a busy road to put their bin out.”

A Dorset County Council spokesman said: “We have put up signs and laid carriageway markings at Hurst Bridges to warn drivers that the road narrows over the bridge.

“We are also in the process of undertaking a route management study of the whole of the B3390 from Warmwell to Affpuddle due to the number of HGVs using it as a through route.”