Make the golden pot crossroads safe

On the 10^th November 2019, Alton resident Daniel King started an online petition on change.org to make the Golden Pot crossroads safe after his girlfriend and her mum suffered a horrific crash driving towards Froyle Road when a car travelling along Odiham Road struck them.

The impact of the crash pushed their car 50 feet and the fire and ambulance services took 2 hours to extract Daniel’s partner who also suffered four broken ribs and a punctured lung in two places.

Back in 2016, a similar petition was created to install traffic lights at the Golden Pot crossroads which, despite getting over 500 signatures, was disregarded with the reasoning that major works would need to be undertaken so that the junction would have forward visibility and appropriate turning lanes.

In the space of a few months, the petition has certainly been doing the rounds having reached over 3,000 signatures and CommunityAd spoke with Daniel King to find out more about its current status…

What made you want to start this petition?

I decided to start the petition while sitting at my partner’s side in the hospital thinking to myself that this should not happen to anybody else and that hopefully, this can make a difference.

You have achieved almost 3,500 signatures in the space of just one month, are you surprised with the positive response or did you expect this to happen?

Yes, I am surprised as I was expecting somewhere in the region of 5 to 600 and I am completely and utterly overwhelmed by the support I’ve had not just from the general public but also from all of Alton Town councillors.

From a personal perspective, how is your partner and her mum after the accident and have you both been down that road since the incident?

From a personal perspective, physically my partner and her mum are both healing very well but psychologically not so much. I have been over the crossroads with my partner and she holds her breath every time in fear.

Can you provide readers with an update on the petition and any possible next stages?

I can’t, unfortunately, say too much about the response that I’ve had from Hampshire County Council or what the next steps are but there will be a press release very soon.

What is the overall aim and end result you would like to get from this petition?

My overall aim idealistically would have been to have traffic lights at the junction however I know realistically that is not going to happen, so speed reduction on the Odeon Road as it currently stands as a 60-miles an hour speed limit and I believe that on this dangerous Crossroads it should be a lot less than that.

To view the petition, which has reached the required signatures, visit www.change.org/p/east-hampshire-county-council-make-the-golden-pot-crossroads-safe – fantastic news, great effort, Daniel!

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