Warwickshire village warns speeding drivers are ‘killing our pets’
A PET OWNER whose cat was run over and killed has pleaded with drivers and bikers to slow down.
Sammer Youssef’s black-and-white cat Dotty was hit by a car on Banbury Road in Ettington last week, near the traffic calming point where vehicles are supposed to slow down or stop.
Sam said: “Vehicles no longer stop there, if they see an opportunity to race through. We really hope something is done about slowing down the cars racing in, out and through the village.”
He added: “We witness farming vehicles racing past, as bad as racing cars. This is regardless of time of the day. There needs to be speed cameras at the Fosse Way end, as well as physical speed bumps at that point.”
Rebecca McKenzie, who helped halt the traffic to allow Dotty to be rushed to a vet in Shipston after the incident, added: “There is always speeding through Pillerton Priors – it’s becoming a risk to animals’ lives and even children out playing. “It’s worse at nighttime, to the point where they’re actually street-racing past our house. It is dangerous.”
The stretch of Banbury Road through Pillerton Priors, then Ettington, heading towards Stratford is notorious for dangerous driving.
Rebecca explained: “They do it to show off their cars to the point that they go too fast and end up in the ditch. The crossroads between Ettington to Pillerton Priors is really bad, there been a lot of accidents over the years and people do stupid moves. Something really needs to be done there, like traffic lights or even an island – it’s a dangerous junction. We always have near-misses, because they cut in front of you at all angles.”
Rebecca’s parents, who live in Pillerton Priors, are also regularly disturbed by reckless driving past their home.
She added: “They’re putting everyone else’s lives at risk, all because they want to drive stupidly.”
Another resident revealed one of her cats was also recently run over on Rogers Lane, a street off Banbury Road in Ettington.
And another villager described the disturbance from fast, noisy cars and bikes as ‘unbearable’ and said she hoped it could be ‘sorted out’.
Jayne Topham, who’s lived in Ettington for 12 years and took over the community speed watch role three weeks ago, said she “absolutely shocked” at the number of people breaking the speed limit.
She told the Herald: “People come off the roundabout, and through the start of the village at 50mph. It’s an A-road through a residential area and it’s so narrow that you could be walking along the pavement and be clipped by a wing mirror. If a big lorry comes through at speed, you could be caught on the back of the head if you’re not careful.
“It’s scary and it’s got worse. It needs to be looked at but until there is a human fatality, unfortunately, I don’t think it ever will.”
She added: “It’s a lovely village and a lovely community and it’s being spoilt by people who have no consideration for families. There’s just no respect for the fact that it’s a village – it’s not a main road.”