Residents of East Sussex village call for action on ‘dangerous’ junction after ‘near misses’ between drivers and cyclists

They said the junction is where the A27 meets The Village road where it is intersected by the new A27 cycle path.

Professor Sandy Thomas OBE, chair of Alciston Parish Meeting, said it is impossible for drivers leaving Alciston to see cyclists coming as they ride onto the road.

She said: “The cyclists have the right-of-way so they often come across without looking. We have no way, especially to the right hand side, of seeing if they’re coming.”

She said: “I try to stop before the junction – which is not good because you’re just stopping in the middle of the road and it’s a narrow road – to see if there’s anything coming but you’re still making a guess.”

Sandy said there have been many ‘near misses’ because cyclists do not realise drivers cannot see them. She added: “People are really concerned about it because they’re having these encounters so regularly.”

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One Alciston resident said: “Shortly before Christmas I was in my car on the village street approaching the junction, in what I felt was a careful way being conscious of the cycle path. Moving slowly past the hedge to the left I had to slam brakes on as two bike riders, each with a couple of dogs following, flashed across in front of the car bonnet at speed. Their approach was concealed as there is no view of the cycle path to the left.”

Another resident Clare Taylor Martin said she and her husband Stewart have seen cyclists ‘whizzing down the hill at great speed’ and ‘flying over the junction’ with no regard for traffic.

She said: “It is a very difficult junction to navigate as a car driver at the best of times and when turning left or right into the village, you cannot dither on the road waiting to give way to a cyclist coming across in front of you as you will probably get hit either from behind or on the side by the oncoming traffic.”

She added: “It is ludicrous that there is insufficient signage and insufficient road markings for the cyclists as they cannot see what they are approaching.”

Work was completed on the 13km cycle path by the A27 in spring 2023.

Sandy Thomas said VolkerFitzpatrick, the contractors who worked on the cycle path for National Highways, discussed these issues with residents in June last year. She said they were helpful and suggested signs telling cyclists to slow down before the junction or even ‘rumble strips’. But she said nothing has been done since then. She said she would like their suggested safety measures implemented ‘without delay’.

A National Highways spokesperson said: “Safety is our top priority, and we always listen to feedback on our network. We have taken on board concerns raised by Alciston Parish Meeting and residents and we’re now finalising plans for the agreed improvement work, with a view to carrying it out this spring. These measures have also been discussed with Sustrans, who are in the process of adding this route to their National Cycle Network. Once we have a confirmed timetable for the proposed work, we will discuss this with Alciston Parish Meeting.”