Petition over 'dangerous' road junction handed in

Campaigners have said they hope action will be taken after more than 1,000 people signed a petition calling for traffic lights at a "dangerous" road junction in Leicestershire.

The petition, started by the Market Bosworth Society, urges Leicestershire County Council to take steps to prevent crashes at the Bull in the Oaks crossroads, where the A447 meets the B585 near Market Bosworth.

Nigel Palmer, chairman of the society, said the petition, signed by 1,054 people, had now been handed to the authority.

The council said it would now investigate issues raised by the petition.

The current layout of the crossroads requires drivers on the B585 to give way to vehicles on the A447.

Mr Palmer said the junction had an "awful track record of crashes".

He added: "It's a matter of several factors I think. It's a very busy junction and traffic is quite heavy now on the A447.

"[It's] an extremely busy junction with lots of drivers of all description of vehicles trying to get across it at various times of the day."

Mr Palmer, who has lived in Market Bosworth since 1962, said there had been 25 recorded crashes there where people had been killed or injured since 2001 but added that the real number of crashes without injury there was "far, far" higher.

He said that although the petition called for traffic lights at the junction, he would not be against an island there.

"The Market Bosworth Society decided that as an island had been looked at before and dismissed, we were presenting a ready-made excuse if we went along that route, so traffic lights were considered as being a cheaper alternative, simple to deploy and would solve the problem by actually stopping traffic whilst people moved about," Mr Palmer added.

"Not ideal perhaps compared to an island, but it would make it safe, and that's what we're looking to try and do."

The county council said it had 28 days to examine the data it has on the crossroads before responding.

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