ROAD: Layout is dangerous

I was following a car being driven very carefully and as the car approached the new roundabout, where a single lane then converts into two lanes, I stayed a safe distance behind.

Whilst on the roundabout two cars sped past us. Only 20 yards past the roundabout the road returns to a single lane. At this point another vehicle, which had used the right side lane, was still trying to pass us and did so on the red area of the road, with oncoming traffic approaching. This was very frightening and could have resulted in a fatal accident.

After carefully thinking about the layout of this road, I cannot honestly say if this person overtaking was a dangerous driver. Perhaps he had never used this road before and after seeing it change to two lanes he was unaware that 20 yards after the roundabout it was going back to one lane.

I then realised the fault lies with the roundabout design, which has two directional arrows painted on the road towards Cramlington, and the road changes back to one lane after the roundabout, which appears to be inviting an accident.

I felt it was my duty to speak up and bring this matter to the attention of Northumberland County Council, but after several attempts by telephone and its website, I gave up and decided that as I couldn’t get through, I would start a petition, which I did on Change.org

The petition, which now has 1,340 supporters, was simply to ask Northumberland County Council to ‘change the new road layout at Laverock Hall Road before someone is killed’.

It has brought to my attention more serious issues than what I first realised.

The twists and turns on and after the roundabout could only be followed by small vehicles at a low speed. Larger vehicles, such as buses, lorries, etc, have no chance of following the crazy design that has been forced upon us.

All that was needed was a single line of traffic for the whole length of the road.

This roundabout has not been carefully planned. It is dangerous and it has to be changed, the sooner the better, and hopefully before a fatal accident occurs.

The link for the petition, which Northumberland County Council now has, is www.change.org/p/northumberland-county-council-change-the-new-road-layout-at-laverock-road-blyth-before-someone-is-killed

Colin Brown

Blyth