Calls for road safety measures at Parson Drove crossroads after two-vehicle collision

CALLS for road safety measures in a Fenland village have been stepped up after a two-vehicle crash saw a mother and her baby narrowly avoid entering a drain.

Two vehicles, a Renault Espace and a white van, collided at the crossroads at Swan Bridge in Parson Drove last Thursday. The crossroads link Main Road, Murrow Bank and Bridge Drove.

The Espace ploughed through fencing on the footbridge next to Swan Bridge and through a hedge, before coming to a rest on the bank a few yards from the North Level Main Drain.

Nobody was injured in the crash but a woman driving the Espace, from Friday Bridge, with a baby, suffered from shock.

For four months residents have signed a petition at the village's post office calling for safety measures.

Village councillor Cyril Bellamy said measures are desperately needed at the crossroads.

Cllr Bellamy, who sits on Fenland District Council and Parson Drove Parish Council, said: "There is an accident here every eight to 10 weeks.

"The parish council and the district council every month have got something to report about that bridge but Cambridgeshire County Council won't do anything about it.

"We have been trying to get something for years. Has someone got to die before we get something done?"

A county council spokesman said there have been four collisions, three of those slight, since 2006.

He said: "Quite clearly, an accident, is an accident too many and we will continue to monitor Swan Bridge. It was improved some years ago and a new footbridge to improve safety was installed.

"Unfortunately we are only given a finite amount of money by government and we have to prioritise where we spend that.

"It is only fair that we address the sites first where more accidents happen, especially where there have been fatalities, for example, along the A1101 (near Wisbech)."

• The driver of the van has been summonsed to court.