RESIDENTS are calling for a rural road near Bere Regis to be reclassified following a fatal collision.
The driver of a flat-bed lorry was killed when his vehicle was in collision with a tractor near Gallows Hill on the road from Wool to Bere Regis on Friday.
Concerned locals, many of whom live just feet from the roadside, say Dorset County Council should reduce the speed limit along the stretch from 60mph to 40mph and introduce other traffic calming measures before more road users die.
Father-of-two Mark Brigden, 29, said he fears for the safety of his sons whenever they go outside.
He said: “I’ve told them not to go near the road to play or to try to cross it themselves.
“To be honest I don’t think this stretch of road is safe at all.
“Cars coming flying down here and are always overtaking each other on blind bends and hills.
“The council really should lower the speed limit along here to 40mph.”
Mr Brigden, a waste disposal operative, said he has the ‘utmost respect’ for HGV drivers and will soon be learning to drive a heavy vehicle himself.
He added: “I know that just pulling off the drive here can be a nightmare, so to drive a large vehicle along this stretch of road must be very hard.
“Three road accidents in Dorset in one week should tell the council that something needs to happen on our roads, especially this one.”
Both Rhys, 11, and Owen, 8, said they never attempt to cross the road unaided because it is ‘too dangerous.’ Eighty-two-year-old Fred Lewis has lived by the road for 51 years and used to drive heavy vehicles for local aggregates firms and farms before retiring.
He said: “This used to be a very rough road, because of all the tanks and farming vehicles moving along it. Then it got done up and is now a very fast road.
“Some people seem to have no patience and no respect on the road any more.”
Mr Lewis added that the road carries a variety of traffic – including family cars, tanks from the Bovington camp, farming vehicles and quarrying vehicles – on a regular basis and all travelling at different speeds.
He added: “I think the road could stand to have some more restrictions on it, otherwise you don’t know what’s going to happen out there next.”
Self-employed landscape gardener, Steve Bickerstaff, 60, of Donkey Lane, described the stretch as ‘very badly marked’. He added: “I’ve lived here for 25 years and this stretch of road has only ever got busier and busier.
“It’s now the main route from Bere Regis to anywhere further south, such as Weymouth, and speed is the main hazard.”
All the residents expressed their sadness at the recent fatality and extended their sympathies to the driver’s family.
Their comments followed the collision at Gallows Hill and another involving a tractor on the Puddletown bypass on April 7, in which tractor driver Dennis Watts was also killed.
‘Tractors have a right to use roads’
Andy Foot, the chairman of Dorset’s National Farmers’ Union, has warned tractor drivers and other road users to look out for each other.
Mr Foot, pictured right, said he was not aware of the circumstances of the Gallows Hill collision but issued a reminder to all tractor drivers that flashing warning lights must be visible when on the county’s highways.
He also warned other motorists to be patient and take extra care around tractors and other farm vehicles using public roads.
He said: “I would like to remind all farmers that their tractors’ flashing lights and beacons should be on when they’re on the roads.
“I would also urge them to continue to be very considerate to the rest of the traffic.
“But the other thing I would like to remind people of is how slow some of these vehicles travel – they are not really allowed to exceed 30 to 40 kilometres per hour depending on the type.”
Mr Foot added that tractors and other farm vehicles have a legal right to use the roads.
He also extended his condolences to the family of the lorry driver who was killed in the recent collision.
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