RESIDENTS have said they fear there will be a “serious accident” if action is not taken to clamp down on speeding drivers on a road near a school in Cwmbran.

The latest petition calling for traffic safety measures on Blenheim Road has been signed by 377 people.

It states that residents are seeing “near-misses on a weekly basis”, with the most recent involving a car being forced to mount a pavement at high speed.

Councillors requested more recent traffic data to assess the situation in response to the petition at a full council meeting last week.

Michelle Roderick, of Amroth Walk, said she has witnessed several “near-misses” and that it is “sheer luck” there has not been a serious accident.

“It’s dangerous,” she said.

“People mount the kerb and cross the lines to the other side of the road.

“There are children coming out of the school three times a day and the road is chaos all the time.”

Hazel Woodland, of St Dials, Cwmbran, set up a petition around five years ago calling for safety measures after her sister was hurt when she tripped trying to get around a vehicle parked on the pavement.

Ms Woodland says the situation has worsened with new housing developments in the area.

“There have been a few accidents over the years due to the traffic going so fast, people not looking where they are going and the bend that’s right by the school,” she said.

“I think it’s got worse generally with the new housing.”

Concern has also been voiced over the road being used as a route to bypass speed bumps which have been installed on Greenmeadow Way.

A Torfaen council report says there has only been one serious crash on the street in the last five years, and the cause of this was not attributed to speed.

Data from 2018 shows the average vehicle speed was 26mph, suggesting there is not a “speeding problem”, with the limit set at 30mph.

But St Dials ward councillor, Elizabeth Haynes, said new data is needed to assess the situation.

“Since that data was taken there has been a significant increase in the amount of traffic on the road,” she said.

A petition has requested chicanes are installed, while others have called for the speed limit to be lowered to 20mph or for speed cameras to be introduced.

A Torfaen council spokeswoman said: “The council have received a petition related to traffic concerns on Blenheim Road with a request to install chicanes.

“A report was presented at council last week related to the petition, and the council voted to defer the report seeking more recent data which officers are currently working on.”

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