Keynsham High Street changes after falls and collisions

Enhancements will be made to a town's high street to make it safer after several trips, falls and collisions.

Red tarmac will be installed along the length of the new cycle lane on Keynsham High Street following complaints from local residents to Bath and North East Somerset Council.

More cycle symbol markings will also be painted along the lane.

Cabinet member for transport, councillor Manda Rigby said: "People's safety is our first priority."

Closing the street to traffic, work will take place overnight from 2 to 3 August. The cycle lane will also remain closed during the daytime on 3 August.

The changes are intended to avoid trips and falls, and to make the cycle lane easier for pedestrians to see, according to The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

A recent safety audit of the High Street scheme referenced "the risk of trips and falls, cyclists being unseated and conflicts with vehicles", but the council said the audit team ultimately found "no fundamental issues" with the design or construction.

The report said that between June 2014 and February 2017 there were three slight collisions and four serious collisions along the High Street.

Between then and May this year, while no personal injury collisions were recorded, the audit noted that "pedestrian trips and falls had been raised as a concern locally".

This included a total of 46 incident reports, although it was noted that some of them were about the same event.

Listening to concerns from residents, Ms Rigby said they were "acting on both recommendations from the audit and the design exercise", with further plans to "add some extra planters in the forthcoming months".

She said they will keep the High Street "under close review" and will be meeting on a "quarterly basis with the Highway Authority to ensure safety is maintained".

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