ANGRY Norton neighbours have criticised the authorities for not doing more to make a ‘deadly’ road junction safer.

A number of almost fatal crashes and near-misses have taken place at the crossing of Whittington Road and Heath Farm Road, with the latest coming in the past week when a car ended up smashing into one of the garden walls.

The driver of both cars involved in the incident were not badly injured, but were shaken.

With the junction just a few hundred yards down the road from Gig Mill Primary School, local residents want the junction changed so there are no more collisions.

One of the residents, Peter Bailey, whose wall was badly damaged in the crash on Friday (January 22), called the junction a ‘death trap’.

“There has been so many bad crashes and near-misses over the years; we are just lucky that none of those have been fatal,” the 70-year-old said.

“You can stand outside and watch for half an hour and I can guarantee you would see at least one near-miss; and those are the ones at slow speeds.

“In the evenings you have cars doing 70 or 80 mph up here. Imagine if a car was doing that speed when another was pulling out of Whittington Road. I would dread to think of the impact.”

A few years ago following a petition organised by residents, changes were made to the junction with the installation of reflective bollards and red markings painted on the road.

However, Mr Bailey said these changes have not had the desired impact and would like to see speed reduction measures – such as speed bumps, traffic lights or a mini roundabout – installed.

He added: “We’ve had cars knock down walls, damage gardens, wipe out hedges and come so close to hitting the houses.

“When there was the last major incident up here the police told me that nothing will be done unless someone dies! Well we’re not prepared to wait until that happens.

“As a neighbourhood we’ve just had enough and something needs to be done.”

Councillor Hilary Bills, cabinet member for environmental services, said the situation at the Heath Farm Road and Whittington Road junction will be “monitored”.

She said: “Personal injury accident records for the whole of the borough are used to inform decisions on road safety improvements.

“Although we have no recent record of injury accidents at this location we will continue to monitor the situation so that it may inform any future road safety investment.”

Louise Jew, daughter of the late Bob and Barbara Jew, whose garden was also damaged by the crash on Friday, said: “It used to be a regular nuisance, although after improvements were made to the junction it did slightly improve.

“Dad campaigned with the police and council over some years about the dangers, after about six vehicles ended up in the garden. Both mum and dad constantly braced themselves for the crash, bang and wallop.

“It’s amazing that nobody has been badly injured, let alone killed throughout the years, but mum and dad would turn in their graves to know it have happened again.”

Emergency services were called to the crash on Friday, but did not attend as no one was injured.