Cllr Lesley Whittaker, of Union Cottage, Hennock, chairman, Hennock Parish Council, writes:

You have recently printed letters prompted by another accident on the road from Chudleigh Knighton to Chudleigh, the B3344.

For some years, Hennock Parish Council has been asking the Highways Authority to impose a 40mph speed limit on this road.

There are many danger points, from the junction leading from Kingsteignton into the village of Chudleigh Knighton, past dangerous accesses to properties on the Finlake side of the road, blind corners, the increasingly busy access to the Finlake Leisure Park, and the turn to the Teign Valley road on a blind bend. Then there is the Chudleigh Station overbridge and slip roads to and from the A38 to consider.

The end of the 30mph limit exiting Chudleigh creates its own dangers because vehicles accelerate as they leave it on the approach to the overbridge.

Down the years, I have seen many accidents, and more that were narrowly avoided, in this area. Add in the increasing number of cyclists and the pedestrians who are forced to walk on the road where the pavement runs out, and it is no wonder that things go wrong. The visibility from the top of the slip roads is poor, blocked from the eye level of a  driver in a car by the fencing.

This is the road that is frequently used as a diversion route when there is an accident on the A38, putting high volumes of displaced traffic, often of considerable size, onto an already dangerous road.

Devon County Council has repeatedly rejected our request for a 40mph speed limit, saying that there is not sufficient evidence of serious accidents to warrant it.

One wonders how many more people have to have cars damaged, suffer injuries, or worse, before there is 'sufficient evidence'. To most people who use this road, it is obvious that a reduction in traffic speed would make life safer for all road users.

Hennock Parish Council will continue its campaign for a 40mph limit, and anyone supporting this, whether resident in the parish or not, is welcome to say so on our website, hennockpc.org.uk.MORE LETTERS IN OUR DIGITAL EDITION