To receive the following petition submitted in accordance with the Council’s Petitions Scheme.

·       Road Safety at Trinity Road/Overwoods Road, Kingsbury and Baddesley & Dordon

Road Safety at Trinity Road/Overwoods Road, Kingsbury and

Baddesley & Dordon

The Chair welcomed Carol Davies to the meeting to present a petition calling for safety measures at Trinity Road.

Mrs Davies stated as follows:

“The petition is for 2 urgently required safety measures to Trinity Road. A 3-way set of traffic lights to Overwoods Road junction even if they are temporary traffic lights  and most importantly the mph  passing Piccadilly, the Kingsbury Oil Depot and EMR through to Kingsbury changing to 30mph.

Trinity Road is situated between Kingsbury and Jnct.10 of the M42 motorway and it has had 4 deaths, many accidents and near-miss incidents over the years.  One accident in particular is serious and has changed a young woman’s life for ever.

The Kingsbury Oil Terminal that is situated on Trinity Road and was opened in the 1960s has grown to become the largest oil storage depot in the UK.  Presently, there are 220 tanker loadings daily.   These 220 tankers use Trinity Road every day with many of them returning to the Depot in the same day.

Trinity Road is an important multi-use road and is the only evacuation road for the community of Piccadilly which does add to its importance and needs to be as safe as it possibly can be.

Also on Trinity Road there is EMR Metal Recycling Plant which buys metal of all shapes and sizes, including scrap vehicles and trains.  

The entrance to EMR is on Trinity Road near to the Oil Depot.  HGVs regularly deliver to and collect from these premises.  The number of HGVs including low-loaders and huge wagons has increased as the company itself has increased in the size of its site.    

Accidents on Trinity Road have increased, and if traffic lights had been installed to Overwoods Road Junction 10 years ago; the tragic fatal accident  to Maggie, her son Damian and her nephew Dion would not have happened and all three of them would be alive today; because Maggie would have taken notice of the traffic lights instead of  being called on by another motorist. 

Also,  if the speed limit had been 30mph and the lights had been working Mason would have stood a chance of survival, but he was killed outright at 50mph.  I understand that there is an ongoing investigation into this very tragic incident.

WHO – the World Health Organisation on the subject of road safety says that driving at speed- significantly increases both the likelihood of a crash occurring and the severity of its consequences.  (For every 1% increase in mean speed, there is a 4% increase in fatal crash risk)

Between Kingsbury school and Piccadilly the speeds vary from 30mph at Kingsbury to 50mph passing EMR and the Kingsbury Oil Depot, then 40mph passing Piccadilly.  We are seriously campaigning with the aid of our petition for this stretch of road on Trinity Road to be 30mph with all the rest of Trinity Road remaining 50mph. 

If Trinity Road was an ordinary road with house frontages – the road would automatically be 30mph, but instead of house frontages it has hundreds of HGVs using this road at speeds not commensurate with the road’s use by pedestrians, disabled people,  motorists, cyclists  and other road users. 

During the day people from Piccadilly walk, sometimes with pushchairs, to the shops, hairdressers and doctors in Kingsbury and children from school walk back home to Piccadilly.  The everyday usage of this road makes this particular road an exceptional road, requiring exceptional road safety because of its use by so many HGVs.

Safety assessments in the form of a “Road Safety Audit” (RSA) identifies opportunities for improvements in safety for all road users.

Trinity road is a unique road because there is no other road like it anywhere in the UK.

One accident on Trinity Road was very serious and she was lucky to get away with her life according to the doctors. She suffered a very badly fractured lower leg and much bruising to most of her body.  She has to use walking aids to get about because of all the metal repair work to her leg.

I was told about all the accidents when knocking on doors with the petition and I was alarmed to hear of so many.    One accident that could have been much worse was when a man was in a car being driven from Wood End along Trinity Road and when they got to Overwoods Road junction, a car rushed out of Overwoods Road and crashed into them.  Luckily they only received minor injuries but the car was a complete write-off. 

It has been pointed out to me that our MP Craig Tracey has been campaigning for traffic calming measures on Trinity Road for years and at one point a developer agreed to fund traffic lights at Overwoods Road junction.  Unfortunately though HS2 then safeguarded the area so the developer could no longer build the houses so the money for the traffic lights disappeared.  

Recently, I read about the road safety fund of £500,000 that Mr Philip Seccombe (Warwickshire Police & Crime Commissioner) has launched for initiatives tackling road safety, as part of his commitment to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the county’s roads.  I really do think that consideration should be given to some possible financial assistance from this fund to enable the implementation of two safety measures to Trinity Road without further delay.

Also, because the Oil Depot has managed to develop so much land with their own site roads, lights and extra oil tankers, they should be asked for a contribution to the cost of the road safety measures to Trinity Road which they need to use every day for all their deliveries.

Perhaps EMR will contribute also

Four deaths is four too many.  We have provided WCC with a petition signed by 1,000 people including the vicar of Kingsbury Church who was very keen to sign.

Mason’s mother Dani cannot move on, she cries every day and although she has been told to think only of the good times she has shared with him when she does, she cries even more.  She has been given numbers for bereavement counselling but she says she is too upset for that now.  She has thanked me though for doing the petition because she said that the safety measures it is for, will help school children walking in the future along Trinity Road and Mason will not have died in vain.”

Councillor Wallace Redford (Portfolio Holder for Transport and Planning) thanked Mrs Davies for bringing these matters to the attention of the Council and for clearly demonstrating the view of local residents.  He provided reassurance that he would consider the issues that had been raised and provide a response as soon as possible.