This dangerous junction in Staffordshire has already been the source of a shocking 13 car crashes in just six short weeks. This area at the A521 in Cheadle has been pointed as Britain’s most dangerous junction, and people are worried; they asked for it to be changed before something really tragic happens.

Some accidents were so violent that the cars overturned, and in one unfortunate vehicle, it even met with a head-on collision with a huge lorry. Having said that, it is the grace of the gods that no one has lost his life, but the citizens are getting worried day by day. They feel it is not a matter of days when the injured person will be merely injudicious instead of a worse thing.

The Blame Game: Shoddy Sign Boardings and Faded Road Markings
On the other hand, locals are sure of a bright comprehension of why this intersection is so unsafe. They attribute dulled “give way” signs and the loss of road markings to describe the mess that continues to unravel. Many drivers fail to notice the warning signs as they rush through the intersection, culminating into higher speed accidents. And thus the result ends up being hundreds of thousands of pounds lost, along with petrified locals who just wish something would be done about it.

Gary Bentley, a local councillor, has witnessed much of the carnage himself. He has had a Ring doorbell fitted outside his home and the footage it has captured includes several of the appalling accidents. For the past eight months Gary has counted 13 crashes—a rate of accidents this frightening for so short a period. One has a car speeding over the faded “give way” lines, oblivious to the danger that awaits it; before hitting a lorry, it crashes. In another clip, a small SUV gets clipped by a VW Golf and rolls across the road into the pavement.

Now, but it is not just a few cars that are involved. In fact, many of those vehicles ended up on their roofs after such crashes at the junction, making the situation even more frightening.

A Community’s Plea for Change
This latest crash at the junction was the one on Thursday 17 October. It involved, according to information, a car and a van, and luckily, no one was seriously hurt. Despite this, the near-misses have become all too regular and not to be ignored. The residents have begun to raise their voices and demand that the council take safety measures to the junction so that accidents like this do not happen again.

Conor Bernard Devine, proprietor of the Huntsman pub, has been keeping statistics of just how frequently they occur. “Presently,” he says, “at one crash every four days, that’s right, every four days, another crash at this dangerous spot!

Conor states, “You hear a big bang and you know it’s happened again. You run outside and sure enough there’s a car flipped over. It’s only a matter of time before someone gets killed out there.”

Why Is This Happening?
Many locals believe that the issue is with the road markings and signs. The “give way” sign at the junction is placed so high that a driver may totally miss it. To add to that, the road markings are so faint that cars run right over them without noticing. Because of that, the cars going through the junction mostly pass at destructive speed without knowing the traffic they are bound to collide with.

The situation is worsened by the fact that a new Aldi supermarket is being built on the other side of the road that is also likely to increase traffic further. Residents have argued that it would only worsen the number of crashes unless the junction were improved shortly.

Conor has been residing in the region for the last 15 years. To his mind, this always remains a hazard-prone spot. Over the past few months, however, it has been looking more hazardous than it was before. He has sensed that where some would crash and turn out to be just fender benders for other ones, worse has happened.

Calls for Action
The councillor behind the camera is Gary Bentley. Change is what he has sought through the very footage he captured of the crash. He believes that regulation in the cars passing through the junction can be done by installing traffic lights and much better regulation of cars, thus minimizing the clashes at that junction. He has also asked for better markings on the roads with well-posted signages to avoid another such tragic accident.

“This is a busy junction, and it’s only getting busier,” Gary said. “We think it could be Britain’s most dangerous junction—it certainly feels that way over the past few weeks.”

The local council has not taken serious steps so far, but the community is still not ready to give up. They are still raising their voices for a change, so that no other accident happens there.

What’s to Be Done at the Junction?
Nothing has been officially decided as of this writing. One thing, however is for sure: something at the junction needs to change. The traffic lights should be added; maybe repainting of road markings will suffice; installing clear “give way” signs perhaps? In any case, as the locals believe any form of improvement would ensure life beyond the junction.

Every day going by is raising the numbers of accidents and thus far residents are holding their breath in wait for when the bang might be the tipping point to a tragedy. So far, they keep wondering: how many accidents will it take before the council takes this deadly junction and makes it safe again?
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A United Community
For now, the people of Cheadle unite for a solution to the junction problem. They cannot let the problem be ignored, and they will ensure that people listen to their voices. It is one bad road, but it is much more dangerous for the residents not to voice their sentiments on what needs to change.