One of Huddersfield’s well-known accident blackspots has another victim - and residents say it is only a matter of time before somebody is killed.
The narrow road, sharp bends, loose surfaces, wagons from a nearby quarry and general ignorance over the speed limit have all been given as reasons for an abundance of collisions on the rural Bellstring Lane between Kirkheaton and Upper Hopton.
Resident Simon Moyser lives on the lane and has witnessed so many accidents over the past two years he now knows the traffic officers who attend.
He said accidents started becoming commonplace two years ago due to loose surfacing.
“The surface was really bad back then”, said the Kirkheaton resident.
“Thankfully Kirklees Council took action and have resurfaced it, but there are still accidents happening.
“There is a combination of factors which make it a dangerous road, add to that people unfamiliar with the road and the speed limit and you get lots of people crashing into walls.”
Emergency services have attended dozens of collisions on the rural road in recent months, with the latest being a man who was cut free from a car on Wednesday morning after colliding with a truck near to the junction with Cockley Hill Lane.
Simon added: “That was a particularly nasty one near a bend and many accidents have happened there.
“The road is narrow and there’s not much pavement which makes it dangerous for pedestrians, but also for anyone driving too fast when there are lots of blind spots and bends.
“There is also the nearby Lane Side Quarry which means lots of wagons coming through. Wagons fling mud onto the road which makes the surface slipper.
“People driving in the other direction have to break suddenly because the road isn’t wide enough which is really dangerous if there are other cars behind.
“The quarry isn’t operating at the moment and we haven’t seen as many accidents, but once it gets going again I’ll bet accidents go back up.
“There are also nearby stables meaning people have to pass around horse riders.”
Bellstring Lane was recently resurfaced for free after it was decided previous work to improve it was not enough.
Simon added that the only way to avoid accidents is to drive carefully.
“I don’t think the 40mph speed limit is enough, I really think it should be 30 and that it would benefit from speed cameras.
“There’s no simple answer other than careful driving.
“Otherwise it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed.”
