MEMBERS of a neighbourhood watch group have voiced concerns that a fatal accident “is going to happen” unless measures to tackle speeding drivers are introduced on a busy Bradford back road.

The 100-strong group have spent two years campaigning for some form of traffic calming measures to be installed on the route between Queensbury and Thornton that takes in Thornton Road, Carter Lane, Cockin Lane, and Chat Hill Road.

The full stretch of road is 30mph, but residents claim that many drivers either ignore or are unaware of the speed limit. Local resident Gary Ashley said Bradford Council’s highways department had been told many times that the road was a “disaster.”

He said: “You’ve got your absolute idiots who you can’t slow down no matter what. But, this road is 30mph all the way. People come up and down here at 50mph and 60mph regular, just as a matter of course. I don’t think half of them realise it’s 30mph.

“It’s constantly near miss after near miss. There have been some serious accidents, cars completely written off. There’s a wall on the bend of the single worst part of the road, I’ve rebuilt that four times. If you go up and down here at 30mph it’s manageable, but you’ll have a queue behind you.”

The group said that after being told there was no Council funding available for traffic calming, residents had offered to contribute money themselves for signs to be put up.

Mr Ashley said: “We raised a few hundred quid from social events at the pub and asked whether we could give it to the Council, for flashing signs or something. I didn’t get an answer to that question, which was disappointing. The neighbours all want to put it towards traffic calming.

“Our concern is that there is going to be a fatality. It’s going to happen. Safety is the number one concern, we just see bad accident after bad accident. It’s non-stop, and most of it is down to speeding. You see normal people, women with their kids in the back of the car, doing 50mph, but it’s 30mph maximum.”

In response, a Council spokesman said: “Following previous concerns about road safety on the route between Thornton and Queensbury, officers have undertaken investigations and have met with residents, horse riders and local elected members. This route is almost two miles long and crosses Bradford South and West constituencies, and as such the introduction of traffic calming along its full length would not be viable. We have, however, identified a series of more specific interventions and these will be given consideration for funding from the Safer Roads budget in the 2018/19 financial year.

“The entire route is subject to a 30mph speed limit. We had a request for the introduction of ‘30’ carriageway roundels and a small amount of funding for this was offered by local residents; however such signing would not be permissible under current regulations and therefore we couldn’t accept the offer.”