Motorists Urged To Do Their Bit To Prevent Traffic Jams And Accidents In Stafford Town Centre

12.00.00am GMT Fri 5th Jan 2007

Chris Baron is urging motorists to do their bit to prevent traffic jams and accidents in Stafford town centre

Liberal Democrat Councillor Chris Baron is urging motorists to do their bit to prevent traffic jams and accidents in Stafford town centre by not blocking junctions and pedestrian crossings during the rush hour.

Chris's plea follows a string of minor accidents on the A518 Newport Road, outside the entrance to the new Tesco store.

Councillor Baron said: "I think the whole situation at that junction is absolutely crazy. It has driven me mad for ages. I recently went to Tesco's and came out at about 3.55pm, but it took me three-quarters of an hour to get on to the Newport Road as the traffic was bumper-to-bumper. There is always so much traffic queuing up that people end up halfway through their manoeuvre when the traffic lights change, so they end up blocking the junction. Also the number of times people jump the red lights is unbelievable. There were even people who stop on the pedestrian crossing. Everyone seems so scared to death of someone pulling out in front of them or getting in the queue first - but they end up blocking the people who are trying to get into or out of the supermarket car park. It is a horrendous situation."

"A lot of the problem is the sheer volume of traffic passing along these roads and driver attitude - we want to get to where we are going as fast as possible, regardless of anyone else. I would urge people to use a bit of common sense and not block junctions - they would end up getting to their destination a lot quicker," said Councillor Baron.

Chris Baron has been campaigning for road safety improvements to the Tesco store entrance since the giant, 24-hour supermarket opened in December 2004 and she regularly discussed such traffic problems in the town, and possible solutions, with Staffordshire County Council's highways officers