TWO deaths, a toppled lamp post, a demolished garden wall - but there has still been no action to curb speeding on a road that runs past a popular post office and provisions store.

It has led to exasperation from those calling for the lowering of the speed limit or the introduction of speed cameras to deter dangerous motorists.

The current "limbo" situation, with Poole council and police waiting for government guidelines before deciding what to do, is just not good enough - so says Cllr Ron Whittaker, of Bournemouth, who has been urging for a change to the 40mph speed limit along a stretch of Magna Road at Bearwood for the past year without success.

He is awaiting a reply from Dorset police chiefs explaining why they are content to wait, alongside Poole council, for guidelines before deciding on action.

Turkish asylum seeker Ismail Bayir, 27, and 13-year-old Bournemouth schoolboy Tarrant Bevis died when a car they were travelling in crashed near the post office in March 2002.

An inquest heard one witness estimate the Peugeot 405, being driven by Mr Bayir, was travelling at 80mph.

A lamp post outside the post office was knocked over by another car last June and only last month yet another car came off the road and totally demolished a garden wall opposite the post office - leaving gouge marks in the brick work three feet off the ground.

There is a 30mph speed limit and a speed camera further along the road near the Bear Cross pub, but once the road crosses the boundary into Poole it becomes a 40mph zone as it passes the post office and goes through a number of dips and bends.

A 1,000 signature petition was presented to Poole council last year by ward councillors Leo Belcham and Katie Hives urging a speed limit change.

Steve Dean, of Poole council's transportation services, said the authority would wait for new government guidelines before making a decision.

Cllr Whittaker said: "It's incredible. They are dragging their feet. Even when they decide what to do it will take six or eight weeks to advertise the changes. They should be doing something now."

Lois Taylor, chair of Bearwood Community in Action, added: "You take your life into your hands crossing this road. A speed limit might work in the day, but what we need is a speed camera at night."

First published: May 11