I HAVE just read an article in the Review concerning speeding in Clearwell and the residents frustration at very little being done to help them.

We have exactly the same problem in Parkend and in particular in Fancy Road. Our road is very long, very straight and runs downhill and drivers seem to see it as a test to see just how fast they can go before getting to the bend at the end of the village.

Our house has no front garden so the front of our house is literally on the road and there are many times that it seems we are sitting in the middle of a race track.

We have contacted Gloucestershire County Council's, highways department who just fob us off with statements such as they are liaising with the parish council to see what speed control measures can be put in place and why don't you just park your car in the road.

We tried that and, just like the residents of Clearwell we had abuse from drivers, horns sounded at all hours as they drove around our car, and on one occasion my daughter even had a driver drive at her as she was unloading the boot.

On another occasion my son-in-law was crossing the road with our cat who had just been run over and killed, and a driver sped up and gestured to him as he tried to cross the road.

In Clearwell they are waiting for that serious accident to occur, but we have already had ours in Parkend and still nothing has been done.

I spoke to an elderly lady from Parkend just a few weeks ago, and she told me that her granddaughter was killed on this road back in 1998. Nothing was done then to stop the speeding.

Just a few weeks ago, we had a collision on the junction just below us. What on earth is the council waiting for? How many accidents and near misses does it take before measures are taken?

We get the occasional police speed trap set up outside our house and they manage to catch a few drivers breaking the speed limit but it only serves to slow drivers down for the time the police are there. As soon as they have gone, the speeds go back up again.

Like the residents in Clearwell I have asked the council for traffic calming measures to be put in place such as chicanes, speed humps, or even cameras but they just say that we are not high priority.

It would be interesting to find out just how many other villages have the same problem and if anyone has had any luck with getting traffic calming measures approved or if nothing is being done to make our villages safer places for everyone.

– Amanda Hornsey, Parkend.