QUINN MILLS, a Year 10 pupil at the new Bro Dinefwr comprehensive school, on Love Lodge Farm, Ffairfach, was knocked down when trying to cross the A483 after school on Thursday, September 29, and suffered a broken leg, cracked shoulder and extensive bruising.
Quinn, who is making good progress, had been taking part in an after-school activity and, at about 5pm, was crossing the main road to the bus stop for Llandybie and Ammanford when he was hit by a car travelling from Tywi Terrace.
The accident highlights the dangers of both the A483 road from Llandeilo to Ammanford, and the A476 from Ffairfach to Cross Hands, which passes in front of the school.
These roads, and the narrow road to Bethlehem and Llangadog, meet at a mini-roundabout near the Tregyb Arms. The roundabout is so small that heavy traffic goes straight across it, sometimes on the wrong side of the road.
Quinn’s accident gives added urgency to calls for safety improvements so that pedestrians can cross the main roads in Ffairfach without risking life and limb. Cllr Edward Thomas has taken a strong lead, contacting the Welsh Government’s Economy and Infrastructure Minister, Ken Skates, asking for pedestrian crossings over the A483 at Tywi Terrace, and the A476 in Heol Myrddin, and suggesting speed humps on the A483 and signs warning drivers about the presence of schoolchildren.
“I am very concerned about the road safety of the students who walk from Llandeilo to the new site,” said Cllr Thomas, who has suggested the Puffin style of crossing with lights to stop traffic and tell pedestrians when to cross. He added that he will ‘continue pushing this matter until it is actioned’.
School principal Mrs Julie Griffiths is also pressing for a safe crossing to be provided. Currently, adults from the school are helping children to cross the road. “Since the start of term, members of staff have been stationed at the roundabout at the end of the school day,” she said, “and we have given pupils a lot of road safety training.”
WELSH GOVERNMENT TO ASSESS NEED FOR PEDESTRIAN CROSSING
Ken Skates has told Cllr Thomas that a ‘pedestrian crossing review assessment’ will be done this month – October. “Any schemes arising from the review will be prioritised across Wales against available funding,” wrote Mr Skates.
Adam Price AM and Jonathan Edwards MP have joined the clamour for road safety improvements.
Adam Price said: “I was horrified to learn of the incident whereby a school pupil was hit by a car. We must all be thankful that this was not a fatal incident.
“The main road through the village is an extremely busy trunk road – classified as one of the main road arteries between North and South Wales.
“When we consider that in some parts of the village there is no footpath at all, a proper road crossing would make the area safer for all pedestrians – school pupils and local residents alike.
“I have today written to the Welsh Government which is responsible for the trunk road and have urged the Cabinet Secretary to take urgent action to install a safe crossing in Ffairfach.”
Pedestrians walking from the school to the bus stop for Llandybie, or to Ffairfach station, have to cross two roads, either the A483 and the Bethlehem road, or the A476 and the A483.
There are no pedestrian crossings on the A483 or A476 in Ffairfach, and no traffic lights which would allow pedestrians time to walk across. Yet, traffic is continuous and heavy. Our photos show heavy vehicles negotiating the roundabout over just nine minutes on August 19. Large vehicles travel right through Llandeilo and Ffairfach because there is no bypass.
NO BYPASS YET – AND SUGGESTED ROUTE HAS SAFETY IMPLICATIONS
The Welsh Government has not updated its proposals for a Llandeilo bypass since 2011, when it issued a statement saying “A ‘Preferred Route’ was announced in June 2007, and it has been decided to proceed with the ‘Purple Inner Eastern Route’, modified to reduce its impact on the River Towy and its floodplain”. In December 2014, the Welsh Government announced that construction of the bypass could start by 2019, but no more detail has been revealed.
The ‘Purple Inner Eastern Route’ would leave the A40 at the roundabout east of Llandeilo and join the A476 between the new school and the houses in Heol Myrddin. The route was devised before the school was built, and now appears a controversial option because pupils bound for the train station, or walking into Ffairfach, would have to negotiate a large roundabout with fast-moving traffic, unless provided with a monitored underpass or bridge.
The previously rejected ‘Outer Western Route’, from the A40 west of Llandeilo and across Dinefwr Park to the A476 west of Ffairfach and on to the A483, would avoid large numbers of pedestrians trying to cross roads – but is a non-starter because it would pass right through the new school!
A bypass would remove much heavy traffic from the narrow, congested roads of Llandeilo and Ffairfach, but Bro Dinefwr School’s site on Love Lodge Farm has created a new and complicated puzzle for transport planners.
Is there a route which gives better road safety, and also does not damage historic landscapes or require mass demolition of buildings? Given the enormous cost of new road building, the wait for a bypass could be long. Meantime, road safety improvements are vital.
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