DOZENS of residents have signed a petition calling for improved road safety at a junction in Kendal amid fears that serious injury ‘or worse’ is ‘only a matter of time’.

A petition to improve road safety on Kendal's Horncup Lane, Sparrowmire Lane and Burneside Road junction was launched in November asking Cumbria County Council to “undertake a safety review of the junction and consider a range of options for reducing the risk of harm to road users - with a particular focus on vulnerable road users - at and near this junction.”

Residents said an accident in which ‘someone is injured, seriously injured or worse’ is only a ‘matter of time’ at the junction.

Kendal Town councillor Chris Rowley said residents had reported many ‘near misses’.

“There have been a number of residents who have reported near misses to us about the junction,” he said.

“And residents have seen near misses, especially with children crossing the road.

“They have identified it as a place where an accident is waiting to happen.”

The Green councillor, who represents Strickland ward, said residents had suggested measures to improve the junction’s safety.

“People have suggested to us changes to parking with restrictions in certain areas and others have suggested moving the roundabout lower so that it would slow the traffic on Burneside Road,” he said.

“We are concerned by the speed of traffic on that road.

“There are a range of possibilities, we don’t favour a particular response, we just want it looked at.”

A Cumbria County Council spokesman said the petition would now go to the South Lakeland Local Committee for consideration at its next meeting on January 26, as it had received more than 50 signatures.