WORRIED residents in Thornbury have called on South Gloucestershire Council to improve a “dangerous” junction before there is a serious crash.

Formerly a T-junction, the join between Midland Road and Rock Street was converted into a mini roundabout more than 10 years ago in order to ease traffic from the latter.

But residents say drivers coming up the incline on Midland Way from Tesco continue to speed over the junction.

Having received a great deal of support on social media, Thornbury resident Iain Hamilton raised the issue with the council’s roads team after others in the town shared his concern on social media.

“It is one of the worst junctions I have ever seen,” he said. “People just outright ignore it and fly straight across.

“I come across the junction a lot on my motorbike. Because visibility is quite limited coming out of Rock Street, I have to edge out to see if anything is coming.

“Usually before that happens, I will hear the acceleration from someone having just come past Tesco and I know then that someone is coming.”

Health advisor Katie Yarwood, who lives on the corner on the junction, told the Gazette just how dangerous she felt the junction was, adding that there is at least one incident a month.

She said: “We have lived here a long time and I have seen all kind of accidents; cars going into each other, cyclists being knocked off and so many near misses.

“We can hear the roars of acceleration as people come up over the hill and will often hear the screeching of brakes as they either go around the corner or stop because someone else has pulled out.”

She said that her family do not use the front entrance to their home that goes out onto Midland Way over the obvious safety concerns, adding that she constantly worries that her children, one of whom is autistic, could be involved in an accident.”

Admitting that the council would be unlikely to redesign the entire roundabout, Mr Hamilton made the suggestion that a slow sign could be installed, or the zebra crossing between the junction and Tesco could be altered into a speed bump, saying that it would be “a small price to pay for safety”.

Since contacting SGC, Mr Hamilton has received word that a speed check will be performed at the site in the coming weeks.

A SGC spokesman said records based on emergency service callouts show that no accidents in which people suffered injuries have taken place at the mini roundabout for more than 10 years.

He added: “It is important that we prioritise funding for safety improvements in areas with the highest number of reported incidents. We will however continue to monitor the accident record at this location and consider safety improvements where necessary.”

Mr Hamilton said he felt the recording system was flawed because it didn’t include smaller incidents, but he was happy to hear SGC would be carrying out a speed check.