Two cars crashed while avoiding a badly parked lorry on Bathwick Hill near Tesco.
The accident happened at around 18:30 today (3rd Dec) causing damage to the front of both cars. The occupants are not thought to be seriously injured. The cars collided outside Miles House, just uphill from the canal and Tesco store.
According to the police officer on the scene, a lorry parked on the South (downhill) side of the road stuck out into the carriageway causing drivers to pull out around it. One such driver passing the lorry was struck by another heading uphill. Both cars came to rest on the uphill carriageway and the lorry drove off.
While the exact circumstances are unclear, this accident will have reinforced the fears of residents about this stretch of road. Following the death of a pedestrian in September 2006, Tesco opened an express store on the site against the wishes of the council concerned about traffic safety. While deliveries to the store continue to cause problems, the key issue remains parking.
Bathwick Lib Dem councillors Nicholas Coombes and Armand Edwards have raised the issue of illegal parking in the vicinity of Tesco three times with the Conservative cabinet this year, most recently yesterday. The same question, “how many parking tickets have been issued; is this satisfactory?” has now been asked three times. In May, the answer was “five tickets”. In November, the answer was “we don’t count tickets in this area”. When attention was drawn to this discrepancy in December, the answer was “we still don’t count tickets in this area”.
At no point has the cabinet member answered the question whether the level of parking enforcement was suitable to address the problem of dangerour parking in the area.
Local residents and councillors have recently heard that their petition for a zebra crossing at the site has been successful; the work is due to begin shortly. Speaking with Cllr Coombes at the scene of the accident, the attending police officer welcomed this development as it would slow traffic speed on this part of the hill.
The council must get on with painting the promised zebra crossing and make sure that the existing parking restrictions are enforced.
It is ridiculous to suggest that this crash was CAUSED by a parked lorry!!
The lorry driver may well have committed an offence if (s)he parked the lorry where or in a way in which it should not have been parked and caused an obstruction. (S)he certainly appears to have made life difficult for other road users.
One or other or both of the drivers involved in the collision would have been at fault as well – driving in a manner (e.g. not looking properly for oncoming traffic?) and/or at a speed which did not enable avoidance of the collision.
A reasonable point; without cars there would have been no crash, without the lorry there still might have been. The policeman on the scene did name it as the main contributing factor though.
I bring this to attention because people have been contacting me about poor parking in the vicinity of Tesco and the risk it poses to traffic; thus I have taken the matter up with the council leaders. I am not yet in a position to ban all vehicles from driving on Bathwick Hill!