TRADERS close to an accident blackspot are welcoming a move to bring forward road safety improvements.

Council chiefs have received advanced Government funding and revealed the A37 is one of the priorities they hope to improve ahead of schedule as part of a £9million roadworks project.

Susan Steel, owner of the Royal Yeoman bed and breakfast and caravan park on the A37 at Grimstone, is hoping improvements can be made before someone is killed.

She said: “Cars don’t go through at the 30 miles per hour limit, they go about 50 and we’ve had to have treble glazing put in because of the noise.

“Cars go so fast they make the house rattle.

“Somebody is going to get killed and we’ve had a few near misses already.”

The Government released £499million to councils that was earmarked for 2010-11 and Dorset County Council can spend its £12million on projects judged to be a priority.

The council has decided to spend £9million towards the repair and maintenance of highways and £3million on schools.

Mrs Steel added: “We are up in arms about the whole road because there’s not one speed camera throughout the village.

“Cars come tearing down the hill from Yeovil towards Dorchester so they can’t stop.”

On Sunday, April 12, two cars collided next to the Long Ash garage on the A37.

And Ross Beale, manager of the Long Ash Service Station near Frampton, appealed in the Echo for a central turning lane to be installed where it took place.

Julian Thomas, the council’s Local Transport Plan and Improvement Manager, could not confirm there would be room for turning lanes as part of the changes.

He is waiting for confirmation that the £9million can be used to bring forward this scheme but Mr Thomas is hoping improvements can be completed before 2011.

He said: “The county council is aware there has been a record of slight casualty collisions at that location and is looking into possible highway safety improvements there.

“A scheme is being taken forward with further design work through the Local Transport Plan, and construction is currently programmed for 2011.

“However, we are always looking for opportunities to advance projects and subject to the completion of the necessary consultation and statutory processes, we would certainly look to complete this scheme sooner.

“We need to carry out a full feasibility study before taking the scheme forward to design, but any improvements would be in keeping with the general carriageway improvements previously carried out on the A37.

“We will be looking at measures which encourage drivers to behave more sensibly at junctions so they don’t make the same mistakes as in the past.

“The feasibility work is just starting and we will attempt to bring that forward if we possibly can as we always do.”

A37 FACTFILE

IN THE collision on the A37 on April 12 a Renault Laguna, being driven by an off-duty nurse, span into a hedge and a black Peugeot 206 was so badly damaged that the emergency services had to cut the driver free before taking him to Dorset County Hospital.

A Dorset County Council spokesman said including this collision there has been a total of six slight casualty collisions in the past three years there.

At the start of this decade the council started a three-year project aimed at reducing the number and severity of collisions and casualties along a 17-mile stretch of the A37 between Dorchester and Yeovil.

A combined and targeted enforcement, engineering and education programme resulted in a 75 per cent reduction in people being killed or seriously injured.

The initiative won commendations in both the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award and the IHT/Bitumen Road Safety Award for innovation and partnership working.