A MOTORIST fears a pedestrian could be killed unless urgent action is taken on a village road.
Karl Batey drives along Barnsley Road in Flockton every day.
And the Grange Moor man is concerned that HGVs are using the narrow village road.
He said: “Every day when I drive to work in Wakefield I wonder if I’m going to make it without incident or injury because of the lorries using the road through Flockton to bypass the M1 and M62 into Huddersfield.
“One day last week I was forced on to the kerb by an oncoming lorry which had crossed the central dividing white line by some way.
“It was a split-second evasive manoeuvre to prevent me being hit.
“This is not the first time this has happened.
“It is only by sheer luck that no pedestrians have been involved in these incidents.
“Given that schoolchildren queue along this stretch of pavement for their bus, you can imagine the potential tragedy that could occur.”
Mr Batey wrote to Wakefield MP Mary Creagh about the problem earlier this month.
He also wrote to Kirklees Council about the issue in 2007, but wasn’t happy with the response.
Mr Batey said: “The Highways Department told me that restricting HGVs northbound through Flockton would simply move the problem elsewhere, which I found a rather flippant answer.”
In its reply to Mr Batey, Kirklees Council said: “The weight limit through Flockton was introduced by the old West Yorkshire County Council.
“The idea behind the weight limit was that vehicles inbound from the M1 would travel through Flockton and those heading outbound towards the M1 would travel via Middlestown and Netherton. This meant the two communities shared the problem between themselves.
“Preventing large vehicles from travelling inbound through Flockton would be almost impossible to introduce. It would mean large vehicles travelling in both directions through Netherton. The road through Netherton is also relatively narrow and has houses along its length.
“Wakefield Council and residents of Netherton would strongly resist any move.”
