‘Something does need to be done about Morley Corner’

Morley Corner has been the site of numerous accidents, with Traffic & Highway Services blaming speed.

It is proposing installing raised tables – similar to that installed near the Longfrie – just south of the Courtil Colin junction and the Fermain Road junction.

Richard Battey has lived on the Fermain Tavern side of Morley Corner for 20 years and has seen a few very bad crashes just outside his house.

‘I’ve lost count of the number of collisions into the wall opposite,’ he said.

‘But I’m not in favour of speed humps, I’d rather see the speed limit reduced to 25mph.’

Some drivers, he believed, saw a relatively long and straight patch of road and ‘put their foot down’, not taking into consideration how sharp the corner actually was.

‘I have to pull out of my driveway very gingerly, and while you’re never going to stop everyone from speeding, reducing the speed limit will mean people will not be pushing 35mph.’

However, nearby neighbours Martin Sines, Keri Holloway and Liz Mahy were pleased to hear Traffic & Highway Services were exploring options to tackle the problem.

Mrs Mahy has lived on the road for more than 40 years.

‘Something does need to be done, I haven’t really noticed speeding along the straight, but cars do go hurtling round the corner,’ she said.

‘What I wouldn’t like to see are those narrow, steep road bumps – I think that would be annoying for the people who live around here and have to bump up and down them all of the time, because it can’t do your car any good.

‘But there have been some very bad crashes and it’s time something was done.’

Mr Sines agreed. He said he had complained to Traffic & Highway Services several times.

Having lived on the road for 18 years, he was certain there was at least one bad crash a year.

‘It’s definitely down to speed,’ he said.

‘Since markings were put on the road it has been less bad, but I don’t think [T&HS] have any other choice now, they have to do something big because people just won’t slow down otherwise.’

Mrs Holloway said fast cars made it difficult for her to edge out of her driveway. ‘The pavements are also very narrow, with bus stops on either side, and cars swerve around me if I’m pulling out and tear past people waiting for the bus really close. I think trying to slow traffic down in those two points is a really good idea.’

While part of Fort Road is in St Martin’s, the Val des Terres end is in St Peter Port.

Douzenier Jacqui Gallienne totally disagreed with the proposed measures, saying it was like using a sledge hammer to crack a nut.

‘Speed bumps will cause more issues than they resolve,’ she said.

‘I feel for the people living in the lanes around this area which will become a rat run – surely in the days of watching the pennies this is an unnecessary spend.’

Most Fort Road crashes are caused by speeding

THE majority of Fort Road accidents are due to speeding cars coming from the Town towards St Martin’s, senior traffic officer Mark Brockway has said.

Traffic research has been carried out on the road, particularly near the sharp bend which has become an accident black spot.

Raised boxes, like the ones at the courtesy crossings on The Bridge and Grammar School, as well as along Cobo coast road and the filter by the Longfrie, have been identified as the best option to tackle the issue of speeders along the road.

Two locations are being looked at, one just south of the Courtil Colin junction and a second one to the south of the Fermain Road junction.

‘Essentially the raised tables are more effective at moderate speeds,’ Mr Brockway said.

‘Speed bumps tend to be used in locations like housing estates or smaller roads.’

While there have been some calls for more policing and speed cameras to be introduced, that does not fall into Traffic & Highway Services’ remit and would be something for Home Affairs to consider.

‘We took advice from the transport research lab, which recommended this traffic calming measure, but we would encourage people to comment on the proposals and let us know their thoughts,’ Mr Brockway said.

The public consultation runs until 28 June.

‘From the research we have understood that speeds on approach to the corner can be significant and from the data we’ve recorded we can see that some drivers do not slow down sufficiently to take that corner safely,’ he said.

Morley Corner has been the site of 19 reported incidents between January 2010 and October 2018, the majority of which were while the driver was travelling from the top of the Val des Terres towards the Fermain Tavern.

‘Speeds recorded on the approach to the corner from the start of Fort Road [travelling south], have been much greater than in the other direction.

‘We’ve been looking at this issue since 2017 and we have tried a number of solutions [like painting markings on the road and electronic speed indicators], not least public messaging.’

Although he fully understood it was not the majority of drivers that took the corner at unreasonable speeds, he said the number of people who drove at a speed that was not safe given the road geometry was not insignificant.