Speeding motorists have demolished a stone wall 24 times in 12 years - but that's not enough to warrant extensive road safety measures, according to Council bosses.

Residents in Keighley's twisting Glen Lee Lane are at their wits' end over the accidents which occur roughly every six months.

But Bradford Council says it cannot install "rumble" strips to deter speeding motorists because the area is not an injury blackspot.

Residents want tough measures to slow down drivers who fail to negotiate the bend, including chevron signing and rumble strips which cause drivers to reduce speed.

Stones from the boundary wall of Marian Sheppard's home are scattered about her front garden, evidence of the last accident involving a bus.

She said: "The driver swerved to avoid a lorry. There just isn't enough room for a bus and a lorry to pass.

"When it demolished the wall we hadn't had time to repair it further up from the previous incident."

Mother-of-four Josie Jones, who lives further up the road, is one of 40 residents who have signed a petition demanding Council action.

She said: "I can't even send any of my children to the post box in case somebody mounts the pavement and hits them.

"You take your life in your hands walking down that pavement. Its a 30mph zone but drivers just go too fast round the bend."

And a neighbour, nurse Pat Whitehead, said there were many near misses and the wall was frequently just clipped. "Just recently someone hit the wall, turned round and scarpered.''

A police spokesman said there had been two recorded injury accidents in the past five years on the approach to the bend.

There had been a number of non-injury accidents and a speed check revealed that of the 22,089 vehicles using the road in seven days, five per cent were exceeding the speed limit.

A spokesman for Bradford Council's highways sub-committee said officers were recommending that bend warning/chevron signing with slow markings should be set up.

They would not put in "rumble strips" because there had not been enough injury accidents to warrant that.

It could be added to the list of schemes awaiting funding from the traffic revenue budget for 1989/99, said the spokesman. The issue would also be discussed by the Keighley community area panel.

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