Residents on an accident blackspot country lane have called for quarry bosses to clean up their act.
People living on the B6118 Bellstring Lane at Kirkheaton have seen a series of smashes over the winter.
Kirklees Council installed temporary traffic lights on bends close to Laneside Quarry as investigations into the state of the road got underway.
Excessive speed, wear and tear on the road surface, the wet winter weather and mud on the road have all been blamed for the spate of accidents.
On Monday, Simon Moyser, who lives in Bellstring Lane, took photographs of a lorry turning out of the quarry caked in mud. Other pictures showed the road and gutters thick with mud.
Mr Moyser, who has catalogued all the smashes on the stretch of road between Grange Moor and Kirkheaton, said there was now clear evidence that lorries from the quarry were dragging “significant amounts” of mud onto the road.
This, he said, spread over the pavements and must have an impact on the drains.
The quarry, which has internal wheel washing facilities, sends out vacuum road sweepers to clean the road surface.
But Mr Moyser said he had watched the road sweeper negotiate the temporary traffic lights and its cleaning proved ineffective.
Watch: Blue-light trained driver Steve Bateman lose control on a bend on Bellstring Lane
He said: “The road cleaning wagon has to come through the traffic light controlled area at quite a speed so that he isn’t holding up the traffic at either end.
“If he came through slowly there would be chaos and anger from drivers being stuck at a green light so I can see the problem that the driver has.
“He came through simply spraying water. The brushes were not rotating – I guess because of the speed he has to travel at – so effectively he is just spraying water onto the muddy surface and this is washing into the gutter.”
Mr Moyser described the road as “filthy” and said that cyclists and pedestrians using Bellstring Lane and Highgate Lane would take their lives in their hands.
He has e-mailed council officers, councillors and the police demanding a long-term solution to the problem.
Another resident, Peter Wade, said the pavements were “treacherous” and the rain gullies and drains appeared to be blocked.
He said: “Whatever the procedure is for cleaning vehicles from the quarry and landfill, it is either not being adhered to, or is inadequate and requires review.
“Attention to the cleaning procedures on site may assist the road cleaning machine, which at the moment is ineffective and appears to cause more problems than it solves. It seems to move the debris and mud around without actually removing it.”
READ MORE:
READ MORE:
In February the council closed the whole stretch of road from Grange Moor down to Colnebridge for a “deep clean.”
Two people have been seriously hurt on the road and a motorcyclist died after a collision with a car in Bog Green Lane, Upper Heaton. Several cars have ploughed into walls or ended up in fields.
A spokesman for Laneside Quarry said the site had cleaning equipment and operated vacuum road sweepers. The site was regularly inspected by both Kirklees Council and the Environment Agency.
The spokesman said he had not received any complaints but added: “If you are telling me that our cleaning equipment is not as effective as it should be I will look into that.”
