ROYAL Wootton Bassett resident Julian Winterburn is calling for safety improvements at a junction outside his home after two crashes in just over a week.

In one of the crashes a car ended up in his front garden, demolishing a wall.

It was the third time a car had gone through the wall outside his property on the junction of Bath Road and New Road.

“If my wife, daughter or I had been in the front garden it is likely one of us would have been seriously injured. Or if anyone was on the pavement they could have also been killed,” he said.

The second crash on Sunday, involving a Chevrolet and a BMW, prompted a flurry of complaints from local people about road markings and demanding more traffic control measures.

Wiltshire Police, who had to divert a triathlon while the route was cleared, said no one was injured, but added: “A number of residents were very vocal about the road markings and state of the road at the scene. From the photos you could possibly see why.

“However we are not the right agency to raise your concerns to, especially when we are dealing with an RTC [road traffic collision].” They added that the cause of the crash was not necessarily the speed of the vehicle involved.

Mr Winterburn said: “I am a professional finance director for a company that has a proud and high health and safety culture, and after any incident a full investigation is carried out and detailed plans are put in place so no such incident can happen again.

“Yet I see the council making no efforts or follow up on this junction. The glass is swept up and everyone carries on as nothing has happened.”

He said the two accidents had happened after the re-opening of the Skew Bridge and the closure of the temporary relief road, which he believed would have eased the traffic situation.

At the very least, he said, Wiltshire Council should re-mark out the junction to prevent drivers from edging out and clipping cars coming down the High Street and heading out of town. He also urged the authority to consider installing traffic lights or a roundabout at the junction, speed bumps, bollards to prevent pedestrians being hit and re-opening the relief road.

Others on social media echoed his call for improvements.

Among them was Emma Crockatt who said: “I’m on Bath Road which is supposed to be 30mph. There is no signage to indicate that, from the highstreet/RWB side of the road. Myself and another local resident are in the process of applying to get some speed checks done, in the hope that we can get some better signage.”

Simon Workman said: “It’s a really busy junction I use it every day going to and from work down Whitehill Way and have seen near misses before and it really does need a mini roundabout or lights.

Bassett Mayor Steve Bucknell said the relief road was only meant as a temporary measure while the rail bridges were closed.

“We are relieved that no one was seriously injured. It could have been an awful lot worse than it was.” He added that because of the bridge closures work on several roads in the area could not be done.

A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said: “It would be inappropriate to comment on individual incidents. However, we monitor all collisions and use any data from these to help us prioritise road improvements. This junction is not one of our road improvement sites for 2017/18 but we would encourage people to raise issues such as this through their area board.”