CONCERNS have been raised over motorists speeding on a busy Darlington road which became the scene of two crashes within 24 hours.

The accidents happened last week on Longfield Road and one of the drivers involved had to be taken to hospital for treatment to head injuries.

Both collisions involved one vehicle crashing into another as they edged out of side roads onto the main Longfield Road.

The incidents have prompted one resident to ask Darlington Borough Council to introduce traffic calming measures along the route, which is busy with school traffic as well as drivers trying to avoid the congested North Road.

However, a council spokeswoman said that when the authority proposed traffic calming measures adjacent to the school about three years ago, the idea did not go down well with residents.

She said: “We carried out a full consultation with the public including an event at Longfield School and letters and scheme plans to all frontages.

“The proposed traffic calming received a mixed reception and there was a significant level of quite vociferous opposition.

“We therefore decided to not proceed with the scheme due to lack of public support.

“We haven’t received any details of the accidents as yet as these are dealt with by the police.

“We will nevertheless investigate the reasons for the collisions once the police have provided some details.”

Gill Cartwright, Conservative councillor for the Harrowgate Hill ward, said she believes there is a problem on the road and a solution needs to be found.

She said: “At the moment I’m receiving lots of complaints about speeding traffic across Harrowgate Hill ward.

“We have, through Pact meetings, been aware of speeding down Longfield Road and there has been some community Speedwatch done along there – we are aware of the problem.

“The council were looking at introducing traffic calming measures outside the school but there was no support for that at all from the public.

“My suggestion at the time was to introduce variable speed signs so that when children are around outside the school the speed limit can be lowered and it remains at 30mph the rest of the time, but Darlington Borough Council don’t operate those kind of signs in the borough.”

She added: “The traffic movement in the north part of Darlington is pretty diabolical; it’s an on-going issue.”