Late last month I was contacted by residents in Station Town concerned about reported traffic collisions and persistent damage to the chicane on the B1280 approach from Wingate.
I contacted the highways office at county hall and also the traffic management officer at Durham constabulary to clarify the extent of accidents at this location, and also to request whichever measures are necessary to make this area safe are carried out as soon as possible. I received the response below from the police traffic management office earlier this week:
Hi Rob,
Thank you for the below in which
you raise local concerns regarding the chicane located on B1280 Station Road at Station Town when leaving Wingate.
I have taken a look at our
accident recording system for the past 2 years and can find no collisions
recorded for this location.
I have also taken a look at our
incident logs for the past year and can find no incidents recorded associated
with this chicane.
If collisions are occurring I
suspect they must be damage only for which either they are not getting reported
to the Police or there is no requirement for the Police to record them on the
collision recording system, hence a nil return.
This location has not been
raised with me as a concern site in the recent past.
I believe the chicane here is
subject of priority signing on both approaches and give-way road markings but
I’m sure the highways officer will have the condition of the signs and road markings
reviewed when resources permit.
Hope this goes some way to
answering your query.
Regards
Residents have expressed their particular concerns about highway marking and advisory signage in this area which is reported to be causing some confusion to motorists as they approach the chicanes. I agree that measures need to be put in place as soon as possible to prevent any further incidents at this location so I’ve contacted the highways office to ask their guidance on how best to deal with local concerns. I’ll update on progress as soon as I have a response from the service.
Finally I’m aware that the clerk to the local parish council is also dealing with similar queries in relation to the chicanes so I’m hopeful that by working together we’ll find a solution soon.
