My life is at risk every time I cross danger road (From Worcester News)

My life is at risk every time I cross danger road

4:00pm Wednesday 6th March 2013 in News By James Connell

CALL: Barbara Link wants a crossing near the traffic island at Nunnery Way. 0913258101

A WIDOW says she and other people are “dicing with death” every time they cross a dual carriageway because there is no pedestrian crossing.

Barbara Link, aged 77, of Swinesherd, Worcester, says she takes her life in her hands every time she crosses the 70 mph dual carriageway, the A4440 Swinesherd Way, to catch a bus from County Hall to the city centre.

Mrs Link, who has written to Worcestershire County Council several times about the problem, said: “I have been on at them for some time, trying to get something done about it.

“There’s also a nursery down here. We’re all dicing with death. Sometimes the drivers crossing the roundabout don’t slow down at all.” Mrs Link, who has lived at the same cottage since she was 12 years old, before the dual carriageway existed, said she has had a few “near misses” and even resorts to wearing brightly coloured clothes so motorists will see her. Sometimes she dreads crossing the road so much she forks out the £8 fare for a taxi into the city centre even though she can travel on a bus for free. She says she would find it difficult to walk to the crossing at Whittington at the far end of the dual carriageway.

She said: “I would like to see a crossing with a red light, a proper crossing. Sometimes, I have to stop in my tracks in the road and put my hand up.” She was backed by Jane Jones, proprietor of the Little Lodge Nursery School. Mrs Jones said: “It has always been a concern of mine. Children cross with their parents to the nursery.” Mrs Jones said one grandparent who brought a child to the nursery was so concerned about the road she walked all the way down to the crossing at the Whittington end of the dual carriageway.

Children from the nursery, aged six months and over, do not go to the Countryside Centre near County Hall anymore. She said: “We can’t go up there because it’s far too dangerous.”

She would like to see a crossing or even a footbridge but she understands the highways department is short of money. She said: “If the road was safer there is a possibility more people could walk to the nursery. A crossing would make a huge difference.”

Jon Fraser, Worcestershire County Council’s Highways manager said: “We receive lots of requests for pedestrian crossings and each are judged based on their merits. While we do sympathise with Mrs Link, currently there are no plans for a new crossing.”