Readers have had their say about whether Ipswich’s Civic Drive junction should go back to being a roundabout.
This newspaper ran an online poll following a collision which partly blocked the crossroads in Ipswich on Monday April 8.
No-one was injured but the crash sparked a huge debate about the safety of the crossing, which up until 2012 was a large roundabout with a subway underneath.
Up until 2012 the crossing was a large roundabout with a subway underneath it was transformed by the Travel Ipswich project that took four years.
The poll asked readers: “Do you think it was safer as a roundabout? Or do you prefer the junction with the traffic lights that is there now?”
More than 1,700 people voted and the result was decisive - 1,300 people said they felt safer in their cars and on foot when the junction was a roundabout, with only 300 saying they feel safer as it is now.
However a Suffolk County Council spokesman said: “In terms of casualty reduction, we have made significant improvements across the county over the past years.
“We continue to analyse the injury collision data that is collected by the police and to scrutinise this information to ascertain if there are locations where road users are being injured and it may be possible for us to make further improvements.
“This junction does not appear in the most recent analysis of collision clusters in Suffolk. For the collision that happened recently at this junction, the county council will have to await the investigation of the circumstances in which it occurred, the outcomes and recommendations by the police.”
Commenting on the poll on the Ipswich Star Facebook page, Debbie Pipe said: “As a pedestrian for several years, I think the junction is safer than the old roundabout with underpasses.”
Fliss Smith agreed, saying: “I have had so many near misses at that junction I hate it. It doesn’t make sense!”
Gavin Hyde said: “A pedestrian ran out in front of me in February, I just missed her by swerving and was hit by another car.
“The young lady who I almost hit didn’t even stop, she looked back then carried on running.”
However Brandon Lee Orton suggested there wasn’t an issue with the junction, posting: “Maybe people in Ipswich need to learn how to drive and then we wouldn’t have a problem.”
You can read more opinions on the Ipswich Travel scheme here.
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