A DRIVING instructor is urging Worcestershire County Council to finish painting white lines on ‘hazardous’ Smallwood roundabout.
Gerry Harrison, who works for Redditch firm Cosmos Driving School, says the roundabout, at the end of the Coventry Highway at the start of the ring road, is extremely dangerous for drivers.
“Many residents, myself included, have been waiting more than two years for new road markings to be put down as the old ones had completely faded,” he said.
“Finally, about a month ago, they were replaced, but the council has only done half a job.
“They’ve failed to repaint the white lines when entering the ring road from Smallwood, which makes the junction extremely dangerous for strangers in the area and our clients who regularly go this way on their driving tests.”
The roundabout can quickly become a bottleneck with cars emerging from St George’s Road and Other Road mixing with cars coming along the Coventry Highway.
Cars queuing to go up Other Road to the Ipsley Street island can also lead to queuing on the ringroad roundabout.
Gerry says the lack of markings at the start of the ring road is also a major hazard for anyone wanting to turn on to Red Lion Street, towards the college, as it’s not clear which lane each driver is supposed to be in.
He said: “In my opinion the county council has done this because it wants to save money – and it’s absolutely shameful!
“All it needed was about 200 metres of white paint to make the section of the road safer and prevent cars from straying into the wrong lanes.”
Worcestershire County Council was unavailable for comment as we went to press.
