Calls for pedestrian safety measures at crash hotspot

Calls have been made for additional pedestrian safety measures at a crash hotspot in Surrey.

In the last five months, there have been three serious crashes at the junction of the A31 with Station Hill and South Street in Farnham, known as Hickley's Corner – one of them resulting in the death of a man in his 20s.

Local politicians and members of the community are calling for government funding to improve preventative measures at the junction, or for an entire redesign of the road layout.

Surrey County Council (SCC) said the viability of a pedestrian safety scheme was being assessed and would be subject to significant government funding in the future. The Department for Transport has been approached for comment.

A man in his 20s was seriously injured in a crash on the road on 4 November, before James O'Mara died in a fatal crash on New Year's Day.

A teenager also suffered life-threatening injuries in a crash at the junction on 4 March.

Surrey Police said no arrests had been made and investigations were ongoing into the crashes.

Councillor Catherine Powell described the sheer number of incidents as "pure horror" for the community.

She said the council had been raising concerns about the junction for almost 20 years.

"Really what we need is the funding to do proper, full improvements along that whole route for pedestrians and cyclists crossing the A31," she said.

"It's really important to us as a town."

One local called for a footbridge to be built over the road, which has a 50mph speed limit.

Another added: "The problem is that it's not really a bypass. It's going straight through the town."

Greg Stafford, MP for Farnham and Bordon, said the current system was "not working".

"The whole of that junction needs to be relooked at," he said.

Stafford said he would be writing to ministers again to ask the government to provide the funding to improve safety measures at the junction.

SCC leader Tim Oliver added that immediate improvements to light configuration, sight lines and signage were to be implemented, but added that the authority was pursuing longer term solutions to "redesign the whole of that junction".

The council said it had been investigating reducing the speed limit to 40mph, an assessment of street lighting and had requested the removal of flower troughs that could block visibility between pedestrians and drivers.

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