Colchester Ipswich Road roundabout crash causes worry over safety

Two people were taken to hospital following a crash at the Ipswich Road roundabout near Waitrose on Thursday.

Traffic was very slow for several hours after the two-vehicle crash.

Ipswich Road suffered congestion, with traffic also along Cowdray Avenue.

Now, following the latest incident, some residents have expressed worry over the roundabout.

Chaos - traffic build up (Image: Essex County Council)

Gazette readers took to Facebook following the news of the latest crash to air their concerns.

Marcus Well said: "Why does this not surprise me, the amount of near misses daily on that roundabout is unreal."

Jaq Jenkins said: "I used this roundabout recently and found the cars not indicating and also going very fast which, as I didn't know the area didn't help."

Lucy Tweed said: "Only talking about the Ipswich Road roundabout with relatives a couple of weeks ago and I said how I hated the layout and it was surprising there hadn't been an accident.

Greenstead councillor Tim Young had a slightly differed view however.

He said: “I don’t think it’s an unsafe roundabout if you approach with safety and drive with caution.

Councillor Tim Young says road users need to be more cautious on the Ipswich Road roundabout (Image: Credited) “People have concerns with the lines and cross hatching, but I don’t think its to do with the road system.

“I don’t think the change has made much difference the series of mini roundabouts does make people think a bit more but that’s about it.”

A spokesman for Essex Highways said: "When any new highways scheme is introduced it is carefully monitored after construction.

“Our road safety engineering team annually reviews any collisions resulting in personal injury to suggest road safety improvements and present them for funding.

“Essex Highways has limited funds for engineering measures, so they must be used at locations with clearly identified collision patterns. If a location shows this trend they will be addressed.”