A SCHEME which would have seen traffic islands placed along a busy stretch of a Saddleworth road has been scrapped because of residents’ objections.
Oldham Council amended plans to install four of the calming measures on Oldham Road in Grasscroft.
One would have provided a pedestrian crossing in the area while the others are designed to stop people flying along at speed.
They would be located between the junctions of Clough Lane and Clough Park Avenue in a bid to try and address the behaviour of motorists.
But even that has not been able to get through and the authority has told councillors they will not now be installed because people were worried they would have blocked driveways.
And because there is nowhere else to put them, the proposal has been ditched completely.
The initial proposal was altered after three people objected because they would have made it difficult to access their driveway.
And issues were not solved by the revised scheme.
Motorists’ speed is a big issue in Saddleworth and local councillor Graham Sheldon believes acting before it is too late is the way to go.
He said: “There are those that are putting everyone else’s life at risk – dangerous drivers, who knowingly and willingly flout the speed limits to show off, racing around the borough with complete disregard for the law.
“I believe we should be proactive in responding to this as a failure to deal with this issue now will unfortunately mean that we will have to react when something does go wrong and this driving leads to a tragic incident.
“If we can nip this problem in the bud by deterring these dangerous drivers, we can save lives. Something needs to be done to reduce the level of dangerous speeding.”
They must be pretty terrible drivers if they need more than one lane to get in and out of their driveway?
This seems an odd excuse as there is plenty of room to build the islands without affecting the home owners access.
Speed cameras between Lydgate and The Farrers Arms would slow down the traffic and boy racers.