TODAY we launch a safety campaign which we truly believe will prevent a tragedy in or near Commercial Road.

As anybody who has attempted to cross there recently knows, it can be a perilous experience.

Yes, there are a number of official crossing points, but using one is no guarantee that danger will be warded off.

Too many drivers, including some who operate vehicles for a living, are evidently of the opinion that stopping is optional. The worst offenders see nothing wrong in blasting across a zebra crossing while it is in use by pedestrians, or else screeching to a halt and abusing those pedestrians.

The situation was worrying enough before work on the Regent Circus Development began, but it now seems to be reaching crisis point.

The crossings outside the development are woefully inadequate, and the powers that be are highly reluctant to improve matters beyond scattering signs here and there – some of which aren’t even spelled correctly.

As the development comes fully into use, traffic in Commercial Road will increase dramatically. It is tempting to say the potential for disaster doesn’t bear thinking about, but we believe it’s worth thinking about in great detail, and we’re confident that most of our readers will agree.

The building work at Regent Circus is undoubtedly a very good thing for the town centre, its businesses and their customers.

It deserves better than to be a potential lightning rod for catastrophe – and Swindon people deserve better than this readily-preventable danger.