Would these road signs make you slow down? Residents think not.

The new additions to the road outside St Mary’s Academy in Beaminster have caused a stir.

While parents recognise speeding along Clay Lane is a problem, many are unconvinced these traffic calming measures will help – and some have even said they’re distracting.

One resident said: “I’ve never seen anything like it before – absolutely unbelievable. It’s quite ridiculous that someone developed this as an idea to keep children safe.”

Resident Douglas Beazer said: “This stretch of road, although within the 30mph speed limit, has always seen quite fast traffic passing along it. With the school entrance accessed from this road, of course we want our children, pedestrians and other road users to be safe when using it.

“Personally, I feel the very ornate work, including fancy pictures on the road, will not make this road safer at all.

“To ensure the safety of our children and other pedestrians all that was needed was to reduce the speed limit to 20mph, with two proper black and white zebra crossings from the pronounced kerbs which were there previously. This would have been a much cheaper, more effective and a safer option than what has been carried out with these new works.”

Dorset Council has been working with road safety charity Sustrans to consider new designs for the streets around the school, based on the input from those who took part in a series of workshops before Christmas.

A Dorset Council spokesman said the pictures form part of a safety improvement scheme on Clay Lane and St Mary’s Gardens, close to the primary school.

“The measures include novel coloured and pictorial carriageway surfacing and improved pedestrian crossing points. At the junction of Clay Lane and St. Mary’s Gardens, the kerb radii have been reduced to give pedestrians more priority when crossing the road,” said the spokesman.