Express & Star

Residents call for speed cameras to stop drivers doing '80mph' and crashing outside homes

Anxious residents are calling for the installation of speed cameras to stop motorists charging along their street.

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Standing next to a post rebuilt after a car crashed into it is Dangerfield Lane resident Jamie Paskin and son Jack

They say drivers flout the law in Dangerfield Lane, Wednesbury despite the 20mph speed limit and traffic calming measures in place.

Out-of-control cars have collided with properties in the road damaging walls and residents' vehicles.

Pedestrians fear being hurt and worry that children attending Rowley View Nursery in Dangerfield Lane and nearby schools are at risk of serious injury.

Georgia Swinnerton, 18, said she has lived in the road all of her life.

"It has been a nightmare here - we have all been saying so for ages.

"My bedroom is at the front of the house and I sit there and see the drivers speeding.

"You get boy racers going towards the Black Country Route.

"There have been accidents - about six weeks ago someone was speeding.

Standing next to a wall after a vehicle crashed into it, resident Georgia Swinnerton, at Dangerfield Lane.

"They hit a van across the road and collided with our neighbour's wall."

Georgia, who is learning to drive, said she thinks there should be speed cameras along the road as a deterrent.

"The humps have not done anything to stop drivers speeding," she added.

"Nothing stops them - they just zoom around the traffic calming measures."

Mum-of-two Jamie Paskin, 34, lives in Dangerfield Lane and said the level of speeding is "horrendous".

"I have young children, my girl goes to the nursery and even standing waiting for her to go in the cars speed up and down," she said.

"They do 'doughnuts' outside our house."

Mrs Paskin said the situation had been going on for years and that 12 years ago, on Boxing Day night, a car hit a neighbour's car then collided with the post at the end of her parents' drive, damaging three cars parked there.

"They easily go 60 to 80 miles per hour," she said.

"I don't know if it is because it is a straight road."

Mrs Paskin called for regular police checks.

"There must be a deterrent of some description.

"Since I have had children it makes me feel anxious walking down the road."

Dangerfield Lane, Darlaston

Roy Ward, 66, who is working on a property in Dangerfield Lane, said: "A motorcyclist comes speeding down here most days and must be doing 60 to 70 miles per hour.

"But no one polices the estate any more do they?

"I can't remember the last time I saw a police patrol here.

"If they put up speed cameras they would catch those driving too fast."

A petition has been set up calling for Walsall Council to take action to make the road safer.

Councillor Doug James, who represents Darlaston South, said people living in Dangerfield Lane have faced "mayhem" on the street and something needed to be done.

"Residents are now petitioning Walsall Councillor for urgent change and investment to tackle local speeding hotspots," he said.

"Anxious residents and law-abiding motorists are demanding action.

"It is only a matter of time before community suffers another fatality as a result of a car crash on our streets."

Fellow Walsall councillor Paul Bott, who also represents the Darlaston South ward, said with the traffic calming measures in place it "beggars belief" that drivers speed on that road.

"Everything that residents have asked for has been put into place," he said.

Residents are calling for speed cameras in Dangerfield Lane.

"There are chicanes, speed humps and the road has been resurfaced.

"It has probably had more money spent on it than any other road in the borough.

"It is up to residents to take the registration numbers of speeding motorists and report them to the police."

A spokesperson at Walsall Council said: “Requests for traffic calming are each considered on a site specific basis with particular consideration given to the available data about the road usage, including traffic speeds, and the incident history at that location.

"Where necessary, additional data is collected to ensure a full understanding of the nature and extent of the problem.

"Traffic calming schemes are then delivered on a priority basis to ensure investment is focused where the biggest safety benefits can be realised.

“Walsall council cannot comment on any public petitions prior to a formal submission.”

West Midlands Police has been approached for a comment.

To sign the petition, visit change.org and search "Dangerfield Lane".