Dangerous traffic lights

The lights merely control a pedestrian crossing. Many motorists oblivious to the danger, risk nasty accidents as traffic sweeps on to their lane from the right.

It's one of two safety concerns raised about the new traffic light system at De La Warr Road / King Offa Way.

In particular the slip lane from De La Warr Road to Dorset Road is causing concern.

Ron Storkey, a former president of Bexhill Chamber of Commerce, voiced his fears in an on-site meeting with Highways engineers this week.

Drivers coming down the slip road and seeing the pedestrian lights are at green assume they are looking at traffic lights and pull out into Dorset Road without looking back over their right shoulders to check if the road is clear. Checking for traffic coming from the junction is a difficult process at the best of times because of the angle involved.

Mr Storkey says his brother, Brian, was nearly a victim of this new danger. As Brian drove across the junction on a green light from the upper section of Dorset Road to the lower, a driver emerged from the slip-road across his path.

Ron Storkey told the Observer: "I phoned Inter Route on October 17 and explained the situation.

"They said they would look into it but it would take a few weeks because they had to make an inspection and a report which then had to be considered by a committee.

"We had workmen on that site for three or four months. It's been designed by traffic engineers who are presumably highly-paid. How can they have signed that off with two major danger problems? Someone should have listened, come down to look at the lights and taken immediate action.

"Someone is going to be seriously hurt if these problems are not dealt with speedily."

Mr Storkey flagged up another problem, too: The timing of one section sends vehicles responding to a green light into the rear of others still being held on a red (pictured below).

He said: "If you approach the lights from the west on King Offa Way you can get a situation where the first set by the De La Warr Road junction go green but traffic at the next set at Dorset Road is still held on a red.

"Previously, the two sets changed at almost the same time."

He knows of someone who, while waiting at a red on the second set was horrified to be overtaken on the inside lane by a driver who, having seen that the first set were green, had sped past.

Drivers will get little comfort from the response of the Highways Authority.

Its spokesman said: "We recently completed a scheme to renew the trafficsignals on the A259 King Offa Way and install an additionalcrossing on the slip road from DeLaWarrRoad into Dorset Road for the safety and convenience of pedestrians.

"It is entirely normal thatthe new crossing shows a green light most of the time as,to avoid stopping traffic unnecessarily, the lights areactivated by a pedestrian pressing the buttonand waiting for the lights to change before crossing the road.

"We are committed tosafe roadsand routinely monitor the effects of changes and improvements we make to the road network.We are workingto calibrate the lights to ensure they work to optimum efficiency while at the same time ensuring the safety of both road users and pedestrians using the junction.

"The positioning of all the trafficsignals is compliant with all the relevant standards and the lights are clearly visible.We urge all road usersto drive with extra care through this junction while they are adjusting to the new layout."