2nd February 2012

WEYMOUTH: Residents' fears on busy road

'The county council must act and act now'

By Harry Walton

PARISHIONERS fear that crossing a busy road to visit loved ones’ graves in a Weymouth cemetery could cost them their lives.

Wyke Road splits the churchyard of All Saints from the cemetery opposite and its traffic poses a dangerous barrier for those trying to visit graves.

Now they have called on Dorset County Council to put in a crossing to enable them to negotiate traffic safely.

Janet Newington lives close by and cannot visit the grave of her late husband, Robin, for fear of being hit by vehicles.

She said: “I want to visit the cemetery not end up being buried there because I’ve been knocked down on the way.”

She is sometimes helped to make a visit by Nancy Brook who said: “I have to cross Wyke Road on foot up to four times a day doing the school run with children and it is a bit of nightmare.

“To get a crossing in would solve so many people’s problems with this traffic and also help prevent a tragedy because it is so dangerous there.”

Road safety campaigner Georgina Skipper said: “The trouble is that six roads come together in this small area. Traffic has speeded up, there are now more vehicles and the situation is getting even worse. The county council has to act and act now.”

County traffic control manager Matthew Williams said they were aware that an application had been made for a new pedestrian crossing on Wyke Road.

He added: “Unfortunately, there is no capital funding available for these kind of projects at present.

“No such applications can be accepted or progressed until finances become available.”

PICTURE 1: TRAFFIC NIGHTMARE - Crossing Wyke Road from the cemetery is very difficult for Nancy Brook, Georgina Skipper and Janet Newington

PICTURE 2: FEARFUL OF CROSSING THE ROAD - Janet Newington by the side of her late husband Robin’s grave