COUN Bob Wright is urging Swindon Council to take action to try and prevent future crashes at a town centre accident hot spot.

Last weekend a car smashed into the doorstep of a home in Curtis Street after misjudging the road’s junction with Crombey Street.

It is the second car in three months to do so.

But Coun Wright says the problem is not with the junction itself but with an unusual number of accidents related to drink-driving around the area.

He says the council is in the process of discussing what can be done to minmise the number of accidents along the road.

He said: “It’s not so much of a problem with the junction as much as a problem with drink-driving.

“There isn’t anything wrong with the road itself.

“The Highways Department are looking to re-paint the markings on the road in the hope that it will remind drivers of the junction’s layout.”

A Swindon Council spokesman confirmed that the council is looking into what can be done to help prevent future accidents.

He said: “We are currently looking at ways of improving the traffic management along Crombey Street and we will certainly include this junction in that work to see if there are any measures we can introduce to slow traffic down and change the behaviour of motorists to provide some peace of mind for residents in Curtis Street.”

But residents and Coun Wright agree that refreshing the road markings may not improve the issue. They say they would like to see a physical barrier put in place to prevent future damage.

Coun Wright said: “What it needs is something to absorb the vehicle when it happens.

“On the motorway you have a sandpit or the crash barrier which stops you going across the road.

“There needs to be something similar along Curtis Street.”

John Brennan, who lives in the street, also thinks the council needs to install barriers to prevent further damage to people’s properties. He said: “I have lived here all my life and since 1995 this has happened more than 11 times. Some people have installed steel bars behind their walls but that’s not going to hold it.

“It’s because they come around that junction too quickly, and take the curve too quickly and either there’s a mechanical fault and it crashes into a wall or their reactions are impaired.

“But one of these days there will be a pedestrian walking along the pavement when it happens and someone will be killed.

“It’s a busy junction with traffic piling along that road. When that development at Regent Circus is finished there will be cars along there non-stop.”

The approach to the Curtis Street junction and the latest crash scene