Legal advice please - v long sorry

[ButterflyBessie]

I will set the scene......

We live down an unmade unadopted dirt track. It leads onto a fairly busy road, at the junction with the busy road it is really difficult to see cars coming from our right and pretty tricky to see them from our left.

30ft to the right is a blind bend which means that cars only see us when they are that distance away. Although the road is signposted as a 30mph I would guess that most cars do 40-50mph down it.

Twice now we have almost been hit, the look in stop look and listen means nothing, listen saves our lives!

Now the council have made a cycle path end onto our lane (which I believe they had no right to do - they don't own it or upkeep it). In doing this they have put many more lives in danger as all the cyclists have to cross this road.

Scene finally set

My question is ......

Can I serve the council with a writ (or something else) to make them make the crossing safer. They have written SLOW on the road, surprisingly enough it hasn't slowed anyone down

What I would like them to do is to make some kind of traffic calming like a chicane is it?

If you have bothered read this, I thank you.

If you can help/advise me in any way I will be eternally grateful

Okay, first of all, if the track is unadopted as a highway it is owned by someone. You need to discover who - ask the council, they may well know and they may well have permission for the cycle path.

You can request the police do speed patrols if there have been accidents in an area.

You can request regular pruning of verges if that helps, by the council or landowner.

Having a chicane installed is not normally supported unless there have actually been accidents or there are community features (old folks home/school etc) to warrant it.

Try calling the papers and complaining - send them photos of the blind spot bit.

Thanks WMMC

RE ownership, I know that the council made a mistake in not getting permission for using the lane - I think they don't know who owns it either

There haven't been any accidents yet, I shall contact the local police and see what their stance is

Sadly if it were as easy as pruning I would have got the job done, it isn't, it is a blind corner

I will probably have to resort to the papers, I just wondered if I could actually resort to the law rather than pleading

What really takes the biscuit is the lorry drivers doing over the speed limits talking on their handheld mobiles

Thanks again & if anyone else has anything to input please feel free

its the highways agency that you oould be dealing with

they won't spend money unless people die.

Bastards!!! - the highway agency not you

Personally I'd be tempted to go out with some white paint and put some mock speed trap lines on the road.

The land registry will know who owns the track - or you can look on your house deeds.

The land registry will have plans of the land and this may include the track - if the track has not been sold (track and possible land with track) since 1927 - which may be the case of it belongs to a farmer (land stayed in family and not sold) then the land registry will not have the details.
They only cover land since they started in 1927.

Go to the library and ask for divinitive maps - shows rights of way etc - if the track is not a right of way then the council cant use it regardless of whoever owns it. If the library cant help you ask in the library where your county record office is and go and make a visit.

The staff cant do the work for you but you can look through the maps they hold (varies as it depends what they have been given) and see if they hold deeds or anything else that is relevant to this peice of land/track.

I would then get a mirror and stick it up so you can view around the bend. Put it up and see what happens - if the council take it down then go to the paper and say the council is trying to cause an accident.

Thanks all for your help

When we first moved here I (stupidly) asked the council if I could put up a mirror and was told that it was illegal. The man at the council also told me that they wouldn't spend money on our crossing as it was only affecting 6 children, compared with schools. 4 of those 6 children are mine and I care very much!!

I will look at the maps and see it they can shed any light

I think Custardo is completely right. Our road is getting increasingly busy and is quite hazardous to children going to the few schools that feed off it.

It is only after my friend's 91 year old Grandad was killed that anything is happening

We're lucky in that we have a very active local Councillor who presses the Highways Dept to at least monitor the speed situation and suggest what might be done. Most likely thing we are likely to get on the road in question is a sign which will flash if you're doing over the limit - and this will be shared with several other locations. However, better than nothing. Do you have an active local Councillor - this is a good first point of contact.