Call for action over '˜dangerous' crossing in Daventry

A mother is campaigning to get a proper crossing installed at the point one of the town's major footpaths crosses a busy road.
Katrina Timothy, back left, walks children across the road with Toya Line.Katrina Timothy, back left, walks children across the road with Toya Line.
Katrina Timothy, back left, walks children across the road with Toya Line.

Katrina Timothy has launched a petition to get improvements made to where the railway line footpath crosses Shackleton Drive on Ashby Fields.

The footpath runs from the edge of the town centre all the way out to the Middlemore estate. For its entire length the path has only one crossing on a road – at Shackleton Drive.

Katrina, who lives on Middlemore said: “I walk along here every day to take my children to Ashby Fields Primary School. There are a lot of people who use it at that time in the morning from Middlemore because it’s the safest way to walk to school, otherwise you have to walk by the A361 and cross the bypass.

“A lot of older children walking to school use it, and at weekends we cycle along it and it is well-used then too.

“There’s only one place it crosses a road, and that’s at Shackleton Drive. There are directions you can’t see traffic coming from, blind spots. A lot of cars speed as well, so it’s more dangerous.

“The road is a main road really – it’s a main way through the estate so it’s a bit of a rat-run, you get people driving out to work and going to the school and the shops. The road is so busy we have to build in extra time – five or 10 minutes – to walk to school in case we get stuck there waiting to cross.

“Some drivers do stop to let us over, but then you have to think about cars coming the other way. And even when they stop, some drivers sit there revving their engines. When you are in a group of parents trying to get 10 children across safely it really doesn’t help.”

Katrina’s petition is calling for a zebra crossing to be installed – something that would highlight the existence of the crossing and provide an opportunity for people to cross in safety.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire County Council said: “We have not yet been approached about this particular request. We are happy to receive further requests for improvements to the highways network and people can do this either directly, via their county councillor or through the Street Doctor service. Any request is assessed against a number of criteria and then considered against the budgets available.”

The crossing petition can be found online at https://goo.gl/G2JvjK.

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