Residents in a seaside town where a council painted 'Britain's most bonkers road markings' have staged a conga protest by dancing along the whacky lines. The new white wiggly lines have been installed in Clevedon in Somerset, leaving residents baffled.
They claim the wobbly white markings look like the 'driving lane for drink drivers'. North Somerset Council say the lines are part of the design and aimed at making the road feel narrower to slow down traffic.
Fed up locals have now met and staged a fancy dress conga in protest at the town becoming a 'laughing stock'. The organiser's post read: ''Wavy Wriggle to Save Our Seafront.
''Are you against the barmy curvy lines that have made North Somerset Council into a viral laughing stock of the nation? Join us on Sunday 15 January at 3pm by Clevedon Sailing Club to ‘Snake On Sunday’ where we will ‘walk the line’ in a wavy wiggle conga to show how we are against the unsafe wiggly changes to our once lovely Victorian seafront which has been vandalised by NSC.
''We will demand it’s put back to the safe space it once was. Fancy dress optional Home made Banners essential.'' One person commented: “The road layout is a hot mess.
"The cycle lane is next to the pavement. Then there is parking, then on the other side of the road is normal one-way traffic.” Another local added: “I kid you not, the squiggly lines are opposite driveways to allow vehicles to swerve to get round and into their drives without crossing the white line.”
One posted: “Balamory from hell for a motorcycle.” The markings were added as part of plans to introduce a new beach-front cycle path along the seaside road.
The road scheme has seen a 400 metre segregated cycle lane installed to remove cyclists them from the prom. The plan is to remove traffic from the town's seafront that features several brightly coloured homes.
The new cycleway will form part of the Pier-to-Pier link between Weston-super-Mare and Clevedon, with the road next to it also being made one way. Despite work being now mostly finished, residents initially believed the wiggly road markings were an accident.
North Somerset Council has said the lines are part of the design and aimed at making the road feel narrower in order to slow down traffic. It is also hoped the wiggly lines will help reduce unwanted parking.
A council spokesman said: "The lines are a design feature to reduce the potential abuse of parking at these locations and help make the road feel narrower. This is a technique used to slow traffic speeds.
"In this case, the area is adjacent to the sailing club entrance so needs to be kept clear. A wavy line provides uncertainty to the driver and is proven to help reduce unwanted parking."
The squiggly lines are due to be finished with a surface treatment in the spring. North Somerset MP Liam Fox described the scheme as 'shambles' and urged council chiefs to kill off the project and apologise to the people of Clevedon.
The Save our Seafront (SOS) group has also handed a detailed report listing safety concerns about the layout to the Department of Transport, asking it to intervene. A petition against the seafront changes has also collected more than 6,000 signatures.
