Average speed cameras should be installed on the Mersey Gateway bridge , local councillors have said.
Cllr Paul Nolan raised the issue during a discussion of Halton’s road safety figures on Wednesday night, saying: “The speeds people go across that bridge are crazy.”
Cllr Mike Fry agreed, adding: “I had one of those coming here. A guy went from the inside lane to the outside lane across me and just missed a lorry.”
In the two years that the bridge has been open, there have been five accidents across its two mile span, according to the website CrashMap.
None of the accidents have been classed as serious, and it is not known if high speed was a factor in causing the collisions.
A report prepared ahead of Wednesday night’s environment and urban renewal performance policy board meeting said the Mersey Gateway road network was “undoubtedly a lot safer than the one it replaced”.
The report said: “Indeed, looking at the Mersey Gateway road network, there have been 19 recorded injury collisions between Junction 12 M56 and A562 Speke Road in 2018.
“To put that in perspective, in 2014, prior to Mersey Gateway works commencing, and when all traffic used the Silver Jubilee Bridge, there were 31 recorded injury collisions between Speke Road and the M56.”
After the meeting, Cllr Nolan told the ECHO: “The speeds people go across that bridge, it’s a 60mph limit, if you have a crash on that bridge it’s going to be difficult to get you off it or you might end up in the river.
“It’s a long stretch of road, so it would be ideal for those average speed cameras.
“If we can get funding for it, I personally think we should do it.”
In Halton as a whole, there were 197 crashes causing injury last year, almost a quarter less than in 2017, and only two deaths.
However, this means collisions on the Mersey Gateway road network accounted for around 10% of all injury crashes in Halton last year.
