A SPEEDING blackspot outside a local school should finally be addressed after more than a decade of serious incidents.
The most recent collision, on Farm Road, Kendray, saw a suspected drunk driver - travelling at upwards of 80mph, according to witnesses - write off a parked car before knocking over a lamppost and then crashing into a resident’s garden wall.
The incident occurred on June 28, in broad daylight, and is the latest in a series of serious collisions and near misses over almost 14 years.
The issue, according to local councillors and the Friends of Kendray community group, stems from a lack of traffic measures since the building of the school.
Stairfoot Coun Wayne Johnson told the Chronicle provisions were made so that when Barnsley Academy opened in September 2006, there would be either speed bumps, road markings or signs making motorists aware of the school’s place on the road.
His ward colleague Coun Andrew Gillis - who’d previously proposed chicanes to the highways department as a possible means to curb speeding - said the council had agreed this week to install signage and road markings on the street, hopefully ending the years-long saga.
These, added Coun Gillis, should be in place ‘within the next six months’.
There are currently no indications for motorists to slow down as they negotiate the long road, often used as a ‘rat run’ through Kendray.
“It’s not just Farm Road that’s a problem, speeding is a borough-wide issue and it’s got to be addressed,” said Coun Johnson.
“It’s not a victimless crime, people are having their cars written-off and their lives are at risk.
“It’s only a matter of time, but thank God that no one’s been killed.”
Stairfoot Ward Alliance paid for speed measuring sensors on the road - but Coun Johnson said these had been ineffective, and one set had seemingly been vandalised within days of being installed.
The school, which saw one of its pupils hit on the road in 2016, has also expressed its desire to get to the bottom of the issue.
Secretary of the Friends of Kendray community group, Sonja Rose, said she’d lived on Farm Road for 20 years and had seen ‘six or seven’ bad incidents in that time.
Sonja said: “The amount of accidents and screeching tyres is horrific.
“It’s getting worse. At school time, I can’t stop looking out of the window, waiting to phone an ambulance.
“A lot of people don’t know the road bends, and that’s a big reason for a lot of the accidents.
“The people of Kendray are feeling neglected.
“Nobody listens to us.”
She said it was ‘sheer luck’ no one was killed in last month’s incident, which saw the wheel of the car the drunk driver hit sent flying towards a patch of land outside the school.
“If someone had been in that car, they’d have been dead,” added Sonja.
“And where the wheel ended up, there are a lot of kids that sit there under the trees - it was sheer luck nobody was there.
“It needs something doing before someone is killed.”
Coun Chris Lamb, cabinet spokesperson for environment and transport, said: “Following discussions between the council and Barnsley Academy, we’ve agreed to install warning signs and road markings to help slow down the traffic on Farm Road.”
