Wigan residents' fury at ‘feeble’ safety measures

The town hall has erected a number of hazard marker posts to make the verge clearer along Golborne Road in Ashton following a spate of crashes and incidents there.

But the flexible plastic fixtures have enraged residents who have suffered cars crashing into houses along the route as they thought safety measures would mean something more like heavy-duty metal barriers’ being installed.

Angry neighbours also said other work to put the brakes on speeding motorists at the accident hotspot, between the junctions with Edge Green Road and Edge Green Lane, had been promised and then not done.

Wigan Council has defended its work, saying the markers are used successfully elsewhere and it is confident they will work.

However resident Bernadette Turton said: “They are three feeble little pieces of plastic on the grass verge. It looks ridiculous. It’s not going to stop anybody speeding or anything.

“One of my neighbours drove past after they had been fitted so I went round to her back gate and asked her what she thought of the new hazard barriers. She hadn’t even noticed them. How are they going to stop people crashing into our houses? It needs steel barriers that go down the side of our house. We were expecting something much stronger and more substantial.

“They were also supposed to cut back the trees around the sign which should flash to tell people to slow down. That hasn’t been working for at least two years and they said they would repair it.”

But Mark Tilley, assistant director for infrastructure, said: “We will always work with residents and other organisations to improve road safety for motorists and pedestrians as this is a priority for us. In response to concerns raised by residents over the last few months, we have resurfaced the road to increase skid resistance, which will benefit motorists particularly as the weather gets wetter and colder.

“We have also now installed three hazard marker posts outside of residential properties to highlight the verge, making it more visible for drivers. This is a measure that we have successfully implemented in other areas across the borough and we anticipate a positive outcome.”