Traffic lights will not be added at a busy Isle of Wight road junction, three years after a fatal crash involving cars and a bus, the Isle of Wight Council has decided.
However, at a meeting on Tuesday, Cllr Phil Jordan, cabinet member for highways and infrastructure, said the local authority is eventually looking to acquire land around the junction of Forest Road, with Whitehouse Road and Betty Haunt Lane, to turn it into a staggered junction.
Forest Road is also included in the Isle of Wight Council’s speed review and there is a possibility its 50mph limit may be adjusted.
Traffic lights rules out
In January 2021, County Hall considered ways to improve road safety at the crossroads near Newport – but ruled out lights. That decision came under scrutiny on Tuesday night, following the change of leadership in May 2021.
A 64-year-old Isle of Wight woman died, three family members were seriously injured and people on a double decker bus were also hurt, in the April 2019 collision.
In July 2020, the driver of a second car, Yaashmi Ravikumar (then aged 20), from Essex, was sent to a young offenders institute, after admitting charges of causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving. Her sentence was increased in September 2020.
A petition calling for traffic lights at the junction which also joins Betty Haunt Lane gained nearly 7,000 signatures.
Alternative measures
Instead, the Isle of Wight Council opted to realign a hedge, more signs and to install other road safety measures, like an anti-skid road surface. Anti-skid work was completed in October 2021.
At the corporate scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday, Cllr Jordan said installing traffic lights would cost around £500,000 and said they were not always the best safety solution.
Traffic lights can “increase the level of danger”
Concerns were raised about queuing at red lights in different levels of visibility and the meeting heard traffic lights can, in certain circumstances, increase the level of danger and the likelihood of rear-end shunts.
In November 2020, a report by roads contractor, Island Roads, looked at the feasability of different options for the junction, including traffic lights and a roundabout.
Used by 10,000 vehicles a day
Forest Road is one of the busiest roads on the Island and is the main route from Newport to the West Wight.
It is thought to be used by 10,000 vehicles a day and remains on the top ten of the Isle of Wight Council’s highways safety intervention list.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
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