AN EXPERIMENTAL new proposal has been devised to reduce road traffic accidents at a busy St Albans junction. The A1081 London Road junction with Milehouse Lane and St Vincent s Drive is a hotspot for road traffic accidents and despite measures introduced

AN EXPERIMENTAL new proposal has been devised to reduce road traffic accidents at a busy St Albans junction.

The A1081 London Road junction with Milehouse Lane and St Vincent's Drive is a hotspot for road traffic accidents and despite measures introduced in 2000 to try and rectify the problem, statistics show that the situation is no better.

At the last Herts joint panel meeting, members discussed possible options for improving the junction's safety, including replacing the traffic lights with a roundabout or banning right turns into and out of St Vincent's Drive.

But the meeting decided to temporarily change the lane system on London Road by creating two clear lines of traffic, one for vehicles turning right into St Vincent's Drive and another for people who wished to drive straight on towards St Albans city centre.

District councillor for Clarence ward Cllr Chris White, who was present at the meeting, said that he did not have much faith in the proposal.

"I'm worried that creating a right-turn only lane will result in traffic jams all the way up to the London Road fire station because a greater volume of vehicles will be forced into the left hand lane. It's certainly a gamble that might not pay off."

He added: "This junction has been a problem for so many years and no matter what we do it doesn't seem to get any better.

"There comes a point when you get such diminished returns that the most effective approach is to do nothing at all."

Cllr White confirmed that the temporary experiment would be in place for 12 months, although he couldn't say when it would be implemented.