A local family fear that it will take a tragic death before something is done to improve safety along a busy stretch of road in Tenby. Matt and Katie Broadhurst's concerns come following an incident during the early hours of Monday morning, when their car, which was parked on the road outside their house in Lower Park Road, was severely damaged in an accident. A neighbour's car was also damaged in the incident. Awakened by the loud bang, Matt quickly went outside to see what had happened and discovered his car had been hit, while his wife Katie alerted police. "Police officers received a call about a road accident which had occurred in Park Road, Tenby, at 12.03 am on Monday," said the town's police chief, Inspector Les Clark. "On arrival at the scene, officers could see that three vehicles had been involved. It was apparent that the offending vehicle had smashed into a parked car which in turn had been shunted into the rear of another parked car," continued Insp. Clark. Following questioning, one person was later charged with road traffic act offences, including drink-drive. He is due to appear at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday. This latest accident is another in a long line of incidents on this stretch of road. "We've had a number of incidents where our vehicles have been knocked by motorists over the four years since we have lived at these premises, but nothing as alarming or as serious as this latest accident," said Matt Broadhurst. "We're constantly 'phoning the police to inform them of the late night racing that occurs along this road, which 'boy racers' seem to use as part of their 'race track' circuit around the town, but it seems that it's going to take a really tragic death before something is done to put a stop to it." Town and county councillor Mike Evans recently spearheaded a campaign along with residents from the area to push for the speed limit in Upper and Lower Park Roads to be reduced from 30 to 20 mph. Clr. Evans, with backing from his fellow town councillors, also put forward proposals for traffic calming measures to be introduced along what is one of Tenby's busiest routes. Local councillors, though, recently received a written response from the county council's director of transportation and environment, Mr. Ian Westley, in relation to the proposals. "You will be aware that a speed sample was taken in August 2005 in Lower Park Road which found the 85 percentile speed to be 30.1 mph," he stated. "Twenty mph limits can be considered based on the Department of Transport Traffic Advisory Leaflet 9/ 99, which suggests that a 20 mph limit would only be appropriate where the existing 85 percentile speeds were 24 mph or less. The limit when introduced would then reduce speeds by about one mile per hour. In view of the present level of speed, a 20 mph limit would not appear appropriate," he added A meeting between town councillors and a member of th county council's transportation department to discuss issues relating to the misuse of the town's multi-storey car park and Park Road by 'boy racers' was due to take place yesterday (Thursday) morning.
