The council are to make improvements to a "dangerous" road after residents raised concerns that it was an "accident blackspot" that could be fatal. 

A crossroads on Crime Rigg Bank and Durham Lane/the B1283 has been causing residents and motorists trouble in Shadforth, near Durham City. 

But Durham County Council has promised to undertake some "immediate" work to improve driver safety, like repainting road markings and moving warning signs, to improve safety. 

So far, no incidents have been fatal at the Shadforth crossroads, but residents are worried that "someone might get badly hurt or die" without action. 

(Image: David Farren)

Worn down paint, inadequate warnings and overlapping signs could be behind the number of accidents on the crossroads, according to Tim Skelton, chair of the Shadforth Community Association. 

Kieron Moralee, Durham County Council’s traffic management section manager, said: “We are aware of incidents at the junction and send our best wishes to those who were involved.

“We have agreed some immediate work at this location which we will be carrying out as quickly as possible. We will be repainting the road markings on the approach to the crossroads, and moving an advanced warning sign so that motorists are aware of the junction earlier.

(Image: David Farren)

“We did work at the crossroads in 2020 and since then personal injury collisions have fallen year-on-year. However we will shortly be carrying out our yearly analysis of road traffic incident data throughout the county and, should this junction meet our threshold for further action, we will consider what other measures we can introduce.”

Tim Skelton, head of the community association, said that there had been three crashes on the stretch of road, two of which had seen cars written off. 

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"It's a really rubbish junction - in the last week, we've had three crashes, and there's about 10 collisions annually," he said.

"[The community] has been asking for changes for years, but it feels like no one at the council or  wanted to take responsibility, though our councillor David Hall has been really helpful and supportive.

"The fixes are cheap, but could go a long way to sorting out the accident blackspot."