Terrified families see five crashes within 12 hours outside homes
Two families have been left shocked after witnessing five car accidents outside their houses in 12 hours.
The worst of the crashes along the A371 on a bend near the Pecking Mill Inn, Evercreech saw a young woman swerve off the road, write off resident Colin Brine's car which was parked in his drive, drop down four-feet into neighbour Steve Cobbin's garden and smash into his front door.
The fire brigade cut the woman out of her car and took her to hospital at the incident, which happened at around 8.30pm on Sunday.
There had been one accident just minutes before, which Mr Brine, of Leaf Cottage, said was a woman who just lost control of her car. Then came the dramatic accident which saw the car land in Mr Cobbin's garden. The next morning a further three crashes happened in exactly the same place – mercifully with no more casualties.
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Mr Cobbin said: "It was pretty scary to see five crashes outside the house in the space of 12 hours.
"Over the last few years we've had four cars in our garden and a minibus on the wall following accidents. Once a lorry dropped its entire load of beer into our garden.
"We laugh about it now, but my daughter, who is 12, is very scared by it and we don't go in the garden any more.
"My wife has emailed our MP David Heath about this issue and we've been onto the county highways agency to do something about this problem."
Mr Brine, who lives at Leaf Cottage next door to Mr Cobbin, said it had been terrifying.
He said the accidents on Tuesday came at 6.50am when a man hit the wall on the bend and damaged his car but was able to drive away. Then at 8am, another low-speed accident occurred and as Mr Cobbin was taking photographs of the crash scene, the fifth accident took place – which Mr Brine said happened despite the driver only doing about 15 miles per hour.
"We have seen far too many accidents here," said Mr Brine. "I think when the road was resurfaced it affected the camber and it's easy to lose control. We are just hoping that highways will do something about it."
Evercreech Parish Council has repeatedly voiced concerns about the dangers of the bend on the A371 by the Pecking Mill Inn, following a number of accidents there over the years.
At a meeting last year they heard that Somerset County Council highway chiefs were now examining the problems and were looking into the possibility of altering the camber of the road at that point.
Although the fire brigade were busy there on Monday evening, a spokesman for the service said there had been nothing unusual on the road to suggest why the accidents had occurred so frequently in a short space of time.
A spokesman from Somerset County Council said: "We are aware of two reports of road traffic collisions on Monday night. No further reports were received. The road was resurfaced about three years ago and, on inspection today, no defects or unusual road conditions were found."
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