A FAMILY’S near miss at The Bourne crossroads’ new zebra crossing has prompted a county councillor to promise a further consultation on options to improve the safety of the crossing.

The zebra crossing was installed in Frensham Road on the northern side of the crossroads in early 2014, with funding from developer Charles Church following its construction of 14 homes on the nearby Bourne Garage site.

However, concerns have been raised that some motorists do not take notice of the crossing, leading to calls by one Bourne family for urgent action before someone is hurt or killed.

A father, who asked not to be named, contacted The Herald after his wife and three small children - including a two-month-old baby in a pram - were almost hit by a speeding car while using the pedestrian crossing in late March.

He said: “One car stopped, there was nothing coming the other way, they moved into the middle of the road when a car came from nowhere and didn’t stop while going well above the speed limit before driving off.

“A startled onlooker came rushing over to ask if they were OK before saying we should contact the police. This could have been a tragedy and I firmly believe it is a matter of time before someone is either killed or seriously injured using this crossing. My wife is very upset about this as you can imagine.

"This happens on a daily basis where for some unknown reason, cars often do not stop as they cannot see there are people already on the crossing and carry on while people are in the road.

“Of course being a few yards from School Lane and South Farnham Infants School this is particularly dangerous as it used constantly by very young children.”

The father also contacted his Surrey county councillor, David Munro, who has promised to explore options for the crossing having instigated the initial public consultation in 2013.

Mr Munro said: “The consultation worked well - I delivered 500 leaflets myself and talked to the school and residents associations, as well as holding a meeting for residents in St Martin’s Church hall, and there was a clear 2/1 majority in favour of the crossing.

“Surrey County Council’s highways department also carried out safety audits before and after the crossing was built in accordance with regulations.

“But if there are concerns - and no one wants anyone to get hurt - we can’t let it rest, and I would like to run another consultation to ask what people what they want.”

Mr Munro said the options for the crossing are limited as there is no funding in place to either relocate or upgrade it to a pelican crossing, adding it “had to go there or nowhere because the money came from the new development”.

“The ideal place for a pedestrian crossing is between the shops, there is no question,” he continued. “But unfortunately to make that location safe, we would have had to have taken away the parking and the shops would have lost a lot of passing trade.

“One option would be to put in more prominent beacons - we have looked into that and it is possible and quite cheap. But some people are vehemently opposed as that would contribute to making the semi-rural charm of the crossroads less charming.

“I will do what residents want but the only practical options are to either take the pedestrian crossing away or make the signs more prominent - that’s about it I’m afraid.”

Mr Munro added he plans to contact Surrey’s highways department for their expert opinion and hopes to have the consultation set up by this summer. The councillor can be emailed at [email protected].