RESIDENTS have called for action to tackle an accident blackspot on a busy Kidderminster dual carriageway where further incidents are "waiting to happen".

Cars speeding along Worcester Road from the town are colliding with vehicles using a petrol station on the Worcester-bound carriageway, it has been claimed.

In addition, protesters say motorists are also running into vehicles driving in and out of another petrol station, a McDonald's restaurant and Hoobrook Trading and Industrial estates situated on the opposite side of the road.

But the Highway Partnership Unit, which admitted there was an accident blackspot, ruled out any changes to the road layout and said speeding was an issue for police.

Annette Billinge, of Worcester Road, said: "At this time of year we're just waiting for an accident, it happens that many times. In summer there can be as many as six a month."

Mrs Billinge, who has lived in Worcester Road for 18 years, added: "The speed they come down here is frightening. You hear the screech of brakes and just wait for the bang."

Husband Clive, said: "I estimate speed is 90 per cent of the problem. I've nearly been wiped out trying to cross the road. It's suicidal."

He said he had attended the scene of two accidents, one involving an elderly woman who had tried to cross the road and been hit by a car, and another involving a car joining Worcester-bound traffic which had been hit by a vehicle and spun around by the impact.

He said accidents involved vehicles travelling from both sides of the carriageway to the central reservation, as well as those turning onto and off the road.

Stuart Reynolds, of the Highways Partnership Unit, said: "It is an accident blackspot but not the worst by any means."

He said it had looked at closing a number of accesses and creating a turning point at the railway bridge but these were not "viable alternatives".

He added there had been 12 road accidents since March 1998 along this stretch of Worcester Road involving vehicles turning into and out of side roads.