Plans to update Chesterfield roundabouts after complaints - with driving instructors naming one road 'crash corner'

Chesterfield residents have complained about markings on roundabouts across the town centre. In a letter sent to the Derbyshire Times one resident criticised queues at Tesco roundabout, Whittington Moor roundabout changes and markings at Horns Bridge, which he believes are causing ‘long tailbacks’ down the dual carriageway.

Michael Harte, 54, a driving instructor who has been teaching in Chesterfield for 15 years, believes long queues at Horns Bridge are caused by the heavy traffic volumes – and he thinks there are more serious issues too.

He said: “The big issue at Horns Bridge is that they still do not have Town Centre on the floor and you get loads of crashes with people cutting across when they're going from the motorway to the town centre. The picture shows it's to the right but you've got to be in the left or middle lane. Drivers go where they think they should and they just turn across your path without looking. It's now nicknamed crush corner by every instructor in the area because it is so bad.

"It took the council two years to put new signs up and they didn't listen and put ‘town centre’ on them but they put the A 619 instead. If I said you're going to the town centre would you look at the sign for A619? The answer is no."

Regarding Tesco roundabout approach from Sheffield Road, which has been criticised for long queues, Michael said: “There is a lot of queueing at the Tesco roundabout, but I don't think it's because of the road markings. At the end of the last year, I noticed that suddenly at around 10 o'clock the queues just became really bad until 12. It is absolutely rammed. I think that this is potentialy because they changed the light sequence slightly, so less cars get out – five or six at a time. Around Christmas time the queues were from the Tesco roundabout all the way back to the Donkey Derby Pub.

"But I don’t think there is much council can do about this. They are limited in how much traffic you can get through. Perhaps they could add a few more seconds to it, and get a couple more cars through. But the issue is that if they add a few seconds on side, on the other side you are waiting for longer so you cause more traffic on that side.”

Michael, who is a member of the Chesterfield Driving Instructors Association, criticised Whittington Moor roundabout changes. He said changes have made the roundabout dangerous to navigate, and that DCC should have informed drivers of any changes much earlier.

He highlighted the Sheffield Road and Brimington Road North turn offs as particular concerns and that drivers are unlikely to check the road markings without any other warnings of changes at the roundabout.

He also added that West Bars Roundabout, near Matalan and the new McDonald’s, is particularly problematic for drivers.

He said: “It just doesn't work. There's nothing about it that is good. Unfortunately, it's just a horrible place where you've got all those roads meeting in one place.

“If you're coming from Queen's Park or Boythorpe the board is showing you to go right and then it becomes the middle lane halfway around. If you're local, you know where to sit. If you're not local, it just doesn’t make sense.”

After being contacted by the Derbyshire Times, Derbyshire County Council has promised to introduce changes at the roundabouts.

A spokesman for Derbyshire County Council said: “We constantly monitor and review congestion issues across the county, to identify ways to reduce traffic delays and improve road safety, reviewing accident data and listening to community feedback.

“On the approach to the Horns Bridge roundabout, we have recently updated the large, advanced direction sign to show ‘Town centre’ as a destination.

“This message is repeated in the new lane destination sign which has ‘Town centre’ shown in both the inside and middle lanes.

“We will be changing the lane destination sign on the approach to Horns Bridge roundabout along the A61 from Derby, adding destinations to the road numbers and will include ‘Town centre’ as an extra reminder to help road users.

“As part of an on-going series of projects to help manage traffic congestion and minimise delays for all users, especially buses on key routes in urban areas within Derbyshire and the A61, we are developing our own Urban Traffic Control system (UTC).

“This innovative, new IT based system, in conjunction with improvements and upgrades to our traffic signals and roadside infrastructure will help us to co-ordinate traffic lights across the town centres, reducing delays and maximising traffic flow for all road users.

“One of the key benefits of the new UTC system, is the ability to monitor traffic flows and make real time, traffic signal timing adjustments to suit local conditions as they change, and to improve the general traffic flow for all users.

“The system can also monitor the location of buses within Derbyshire, and adjust traffic lights, to help buses running behind schedule make up time, improving punctuality and the appeal of travel by bus.

“These projects will also help us understand much more about the air quality in the local area, which in turn we can look to improve using our UTC system to help inform traffic management decisions.

“Since the McDonalds restaurant opened, there has been a significant increase in traffic in the area, particularly along West Bars. In recognition of this, we are reviewing the road markings at West Bars roundabout to better inform road users which lane to use, helping to in turn, reduce traffic delays.”