New Delhi. Life in villages is considered to be very happy, but there is a village where people live in fear that they might die the next moment. And the reason behind this is the main road passing in front of the village. The fear of vehicles on this road is so much that many people have decided to leave this beautiful village. Here we are talking about a very small village named Anwick in Lincolnshire, England, where only a few hundred people live. If the people here are to be believed, they have to live in fear that they might get hit by cars and lorries passing through the village at high speed. The people driving at high speed on the main road have eclipsed the peace of this village.
The A153 main road that runs through the village had the highest number of speeding cases in Lincolnshire last year. The road has a speed limit of 60mph until you reach Anwick, with a strict 30mph speed limit throughout the stretch and a speed camera ahead in the village. Despite 7,880 speeding cases recorded on the road between April 2023 and April 2024, residents say drivers continue to speed through the village, leaving them in dangerous situations.
brakes in front of the camera but
“They speed into the village, brake for the camera, and then speed off again. You can hear them, especially those on bikes. It’s really bad and it’s hard to cross the road as there are no crossings,” said Julie Baines, who has lived in Anwick for 20 years. “They need to do regular speed checks in the village. As soon as they pass the camera they put their foot down. I’m not surprised this road has the highest number of speeding cases.”
Many people want to leave the village
Glyn Lowe and Jane Carter have lived in Anwick for 10 years, but they say speeding is one of the reasons they want to move. “They come in early and slow down for the camera, and as soon as they’ve passed they speed up again. Even crossings can put people at risk because no one seems to pay attention. There’s also a lack of police presence, which is shocking,” Glyn said.
Drivers do not reduce speed even after seeing people
Jane said, “When the vehicles passing here see you crossing the road, they do not reduce their speed, but increase it. So even if we had a crossing, it seems unlikely that accidents would have been prevented. Anvik is a village that has been forgotten. Nobody cares about anything. Nobody cares about the village at all.”
People are always afraid of accidents
Some residents are genuinely afraid of accidents. Terry Evans has lived in Anwick for 20 years. He says he was hit by a speeding car two years ago and had to be hospitalised just before his daughter’s wedding. Terry Evans, 76, said: “I was crossing the road, a car was coming from the front and I assumed it was going under 30mph. But it suddenly came really fast and knocked me off the road, the car still didn’t stop. I told the police but nothing happened. I’m not surprised by the statistics. When you walk around the village you can hear the engine as the cars pass the camera.”
There is no crossing on the road
Mirella Gray moved to Anwick two years ago and says she immediately noticed the nuisance of speeding. “Since we moved here the road has gotten busier. It’s bad. I take the school bus because I take disabled children to school, and the amount of cars overtaking is horrible,” she said. “When you’re trying to cross the road to go to the shop, it’s bad. It would be nice to have a crossing or something, but it’s a question of where you’d get it. We come from the city and they drive like crazy here. We’ve had a couple of near accidents and even had a bus wing mirror broken.”
Crossing the road is like inviting death
Jean Hendon has lived in Anwick village for 21 years. She said: “It’s very dangerous. We have to go the other way to get to the shop and you can’t do that now because the cars are going so fast. It’s just terrifying. I think we need a patrolled crossing and that will slow down the speeds. It’s crazy. It’s harder to cross when you get older and there are more trucks going through, which is a lot for a small village, it’s a real shame.”
Tags: britain news
FIRST PUBLISHED : September 25, 2024, 04:01 IST
