September is Catch the Bus month! We’re lucky enough to have a great local bus service around the town, plus buses to Warminster, Westbury, and Midsomer Norton. Our wonderful D2 and D2X buses take us to Bath and Berrys Coaches will also take us straight to London. We know that bus services everywhere are being cut if they’re underused, so let’s make a special effort to support them.
September is usually one of the busiest months for the Mayor, and although Mayoral duties may abound, there is also plenty of day-to-day council work that needs to be addressed.
Each one of your councillors is working hard on their own areas of interest, and many of you will already know that one of my passions is road safety.
By this, I mean making sure our children are safe on the streets, ensuring that speed limits are upheld (and if need be, enforced), working with residents who are experiencing heavy traffic in their neighbourhoods, arranging speed restrictions around the town to make life easier and safer for cyclists and pedestrians alike. I work closely with the police, Community Speed Watch and the Highways Team at Somerset Council in all these areas.
But road safety is so much more than that. It’s creating an awareness around the ‘Fatal Five’ – the five actions that often contribute to serious accidents on our roads. These are: driving while using a mobile phone, not wearing a seatbelt, driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, careless driving and speeding. If you have any suspicions that someone is driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you can ring CrimeStoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org. They’d be delighted to receive your call.
You may be aware that we now have an AI camera along the bypass which will capture both mobile phone usage and not wearing a seatbelt. I’m delighted that Somerset Council and the police have acknowledged the danger surrounding the bypass, but there are more steps that can be taken and I will continue to push for them.
We know that Somerset Council has been experiencing financial difficulties and have had to cut back on staff. Let’s do all we can in Frome to ensure road safety, and assist them by highlighting areas around the town which may contribute to dangerous situations.
One area where we can help is by pointing out wherever there is overgrowth along the road which may be obscuring road signs, or impacting sigtlines at junctions.
I ran a campaign around this topic last year and was excited that so many people responded, highlighting issues of this nature. I was then able to pass the knowledge on to Somerset County who immediately began to rectify the areas we’d pinpointed.
It was a useful exercise and I believe it’s worth repeating, so I’m appealing to you again to help me keep Frome safe.
If you spot any road signs that are missing or obscured, if you spot any overgrown bushes or hedgerows that are proving hazardous to road users (motorists, cyclists and/or pedestrians), or if you notice anything else which would improve conditions on our roads, I would be delighted to collate your comments and work with Somerset Council to achieve the improvements.
Please write to me, explaining the location as clearly as possible, and ideally with pictures, at acollier@frometowncouncil.gov.uk
It’s good to work with you all and thank you in advance for all your help. If you could spread the word, I’d be very grateful. Thank you.
