I’ve been told (by Matt Davis from the Stockport Express) that there was a nasty accident at the busy Kingsway/Gatley Road junction yesterday (Monday) morning.

A car turning right from Gatley onto Kingsway was hit by an ambulance, flipped over and ended up on its roof. By a miracle, the elderly driver had only minor injuries.

This sort of issue is, of course, one of the things Mark Hunter, Pam King and myself have been arguing with the Highways Agency about for some time.

The Highways Agency and Manchester Urban Traffic Control (who control the junction and have the final say over any changes) have so far resisted right turn filters due to fears over safety, but the current situation clearly isn’t as safe as it should be.

They even proposed their own solution, backed up by their own evidence: reducing the total cycle time of the lights from three minutes to two. This would increase the number of cars able to turn right from Cheadle and Gatley by 50% (as the cars would have an opportunity to nip right onto Kingway every two minutes instead of every three) and, I would hope, make it a bit safer if only because we’d all get less frustrated waiting in queues to turn right and so be less likely to take risks.

Unfortunately, having promised they would implement the change (which required no roadworks – just a change in the computer that could have been turned back had it caused problems), they then reneged on the agreement without telling us and so nothing has been done.

That discussion is ongoing – though taking far longer than it should be. How many more accidents and how many more months or years of long queues will we have to endure before the Highways Agency acts?