A crossing at a junction where an elderly mobility scooter rider died would make it more dangerous than it is now, it has been claimed.

The town council at Bedale has called for an investigation by North Yorkshire County Council’s highways department into what can be done to improve safety at the junction of Firby Road and Masham Road in Bedale where 81-year-old Ron Archbold was killed in a collision with a car on September 2.

But local county councillor John Weighell said:” I have been to two or three site visits there and the end result is that junction is not suitable for modern traffic, there isn’t actually a proper solution whatever you did. A crossing there would make it more dangerous than it is now.”

However Coun Ellen Dunning said traffic calming humps should have been put in.

”It is a lame excuse to say there isn’t enough room, we have to do something about it. We should have taken up the offer of land on the other side of Firby Road to create a path, that is part of the problem.”

And Coun John Noone warned: ”Let’s hope there are no more fatal accidents before something is done about it.

“It is lethal, there is a blind corner and traffic tends to go too fast, although I am not suggesting that is what happened here.”

Coun Clive Pointon said investigations were carried out last year after representations from the High School on the same junction.

“Highways said there wasn’t sufficient vision to put a crossing in, it isn’t as if we haven’t been campaigning. I think it highlights the fact the concerns were well founded,” he said.

But Coun Malcolm Young said: ”The Department of Transport would say no to a crossing, “Most of the problem arises because there isn’t a footpath, that is what needs addressing,”he added.

Councillors are also asking the highways department for double yellow lines on Firby Road, up to Queen Anne’s Drive, to stop vehicles parking along the roadside and creating problems.