Last updated 16:06, Wednesday, 27 August 2008

PEOPLE in Lowca are claiming motorists avoiding roadworks on the A595 may be facing more delays and dangers as a result of their attempts to use Lowca as a short cut.

Lowca speed camera team: (from left) Keith Moore (parish council), Marjorie Moore (road safety committee) and Brian Ennis

Brian Ennis, chairman of Lowca Road Safety Group, described the situation as the worst it has ever been, saying it was “absolutely horrendous”.

He said: “There is a serious problem with traffic coming through the village.

“There is a chicane that involves giving way to traffic coming up the hill and at peak periods there is often trouble when some people don’t want to give way and they have already set off.”

Speed Indication Devices have been put up in the village and mobile safety camera vans have been clocking people’s speeds.

Mr Ennis, 56, added that residents living in the village find it difficult to drive through it themselves.

“It is extremely dangerous,” he added.

“There have been a lot of minor accidents that are not reported,” he added.

Gillian Strickland, 46, lives at Westcroft Terrace.

She said that parents living nearby will not let their children cross the road alone to go to the play park because they fear for their safety.

She added: “I have noticed an increase to damaged cars. Not everybody is speeding but people will not give way.

“When you are trying to set off, you are sitting for a long time just waiting to get out.”

Ms Strickland said that she has driven through Lowca herself and also along the A595 through Distington to see if it was any quicker diverting through the village.

“Because of the volume of traffic coming through Lowca it is really slower.

“We have got so much traffic coming through.

“We can’t stop people coming through the village but we want them to use it with respect.”

Ms Strickland said that queues of traffic are building up at the junction going out of Lowca and onto the A595.

The road safety group purchased a speed radar gun in the past to try and solve the speeding problem in the village.

Mr Ennis said that eight people are trained to use the gun and it is something they will be doing in the future to tackle speeding.

He said that they have also asked the police if the village’s community police officer could get trained on the radar gun but so far they have not heard back from Cumbria Constabulary.