TRAFFIC lights at major junction in Benfleet are “causing confusion and crashes”, it has been claimed after two incidents within a week. 

Yesterday, a car crashed into another car while crossing the Tarpots junction heading towards Rushbottom Lane. 

CCTV footage of the crash appears to show the driver mistaking the green light in the left-turn only lane while driving straight across the junction. 

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Drivers approaching the junction from High Road, Benfleet, are filtered into three lanes. 

A set of traffic lights dictates when drivers can turn left, however a separate set of traffic lights dictate when drivers can go straight across or turn right. 

Last Tuesday, a van driver appeared to make the same error and was involved in a crash. 

Lynsey McCarthy-Calvert, People’s Independent Party councillor for the Appleton ward, said: “There is clearly an issue there. The left turn light goes green, but the ones in the middle lane just go with the flow from the inside.

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“That has happened again and also happened last week.

“So, something needs to happen, as it is clearly an issue.

“I will be taking that up with the Highways committee and seeing if we can get it looked into as a problem.

“It is dangerous. It is two accidents in a week, and I have also heard of several near misses too, so it can’t be long until something more serious happens.

“We need to find an ideal solution, and make the junction safer.”
Residents have called for Essex County Council to install an additional set of lights to make it clearer to drivers.

However, Essex Highways said this isn’t feasible.

A spokesperson for Essex Highways said: “Unfortunately, it’s not feasible to install a far-sided repeater head at this junction due to the sequencing of the signals.

“The Rushbottom Lane approach has right of way in two of the signal sequence stages.

In one stage, right turning traffic must give way to oncoming traffic, from High Road, which is immediately followed by a stage where traffic on Rushbottom Lane has priority, including a right turn signal.

“Therefore, if there were a repeater signal on the far side for traffic waiting to turn right from High Road, it would cause confusion and would be likely to lead to head-on or side-impact collisions.

“This junction has operated with the current signal sequencing and timings for around 10 years and there has been no serious injury accident pattern recorded.”