‘We’ve written off 8 cars since moving to UK’s most dangerous road for motors’
A family has been forced to write off eight cars since moving to a notoriously busy road where 12 more cars have been smashed up.
The Griffiths family, who live on Chepstow Road close to the city centre in Newport, Wales, said they lost their latest motor after a crash on Tuesday (May 9) evening.
Andrew Griffiths’ daughter’s Ford Fiesta was wrecked weeks after he lost his own car after someone hit it in the early hours while it was parked outside his home.
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“She started working and saved money to buy it. It was her first car,” he said.
"She’s had it about a year and she’s still learning to drive in it. It was immaculate, she really looked after it.”
The full circumstances of the latest crash are not known, including whether speed was a factor, but local homeowners believe action needs to be taken.
Residents are furious and want something done about the notorious stretch which is close to the M4's Coldra junction.
Andrew Griffith told WalesOnline: “[The council] are waiting for someone to die before they do anything about it.”
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"Why does it keep happening to us and our neighbours? Yesterday another car was written off and another damaged. There are a whole manner of reasons why they seem to happen. We’ve had people fall asleep at the wheel, people not concentrating, all sorts.
“As soon as something more serious happens, something will get done. It’s unbelievable.”
Andrew’s neighbour, James Crowley, said he has had ten cars written off on the road, while his neighbour on the other side Gerald Carter, who is 89, has had two cars written off in the last six years – one of which almost ended up in his lounge.
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Andrew claimed that the local council said they wouldn’t do anything to reduce the problem except increase speed awareness programmes.
“They said they couldn’t put any rumble strips or anything like that in and they were looking at more speed awareness programmes instead.
In March a spokesman for Newport Council said: "The council has received a report of problems along a particular stretch of Chepstow Road.
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“As it is a strategic through road, we are not considering any additional traffic calming measures at this time, but we have offered to facilitate a community speed watch scheme for residents.
"It should also be noted that Chepstow Road will be defaulted to 20mph under the new default national speed limit which is coming into force in Wales from 17 September 2023."
The Daily Star has contacted Newport Council for comment.
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