A NEW speed limit will soon be introduced on the A50 following several crashes – including one fatal – over the past months.

But residents and councillors fear that the 50mph restriction will not be enough to prevent accidents and deter speeding drivers.

Eighteen-year-old Stacey Wright from Sandbach died earlier this month after her car was involved in a collision on the A50 Holmes Chapel Road.

Her family paid tribute to the teenager saying ‘she never saw the bad in anyone and always had a smile on her face’.

Clr George Walton has backed plans to reduce the speed limit from 60mph to 50mph along the A50 but he isn’t sure that this will be enough.

“The new speed limit should be introduced as soon as possible but nobody knows whether this will be sufficient,” he said.

“Driving dangerously is another problem altogether, and not just on the A50.

“The road has been resurfaced near the bend at Whipping Stocks Inn but we will have to see if the new speed limit will make a difference to the way people drive and how many accidents there are.”

An online petition calling for further safety measures to be introduced on the road has collected just under 800 signatures.

Residents want to see traffic lights or roundabouts or even a new road layout as the dips in the road make it difficult for drivers to see junctions.

Kristin Williamson has lived on Toft Road for three years and she has become increasingly concerned with cars driving at high speeds along the A50.

“It’s 60mph at the moment and people still drive way over the limit,” she said.

“Drivers often use it as a race track as the road is very wide but they travel so fast that they don’t see the bumps and dips until it’s too late.

“We see incidents every day and the road just isn’t safe.”

A spokesman for Cheshire East Council said the new 50mph speed limit on the A50 Holmes Chapel road will come into force next month.

To sign the online petition calling for safety measures at the junctions with Middlewich Lane and the Seven Sisters Lane visit change.org/en-GB/petitions/slow-down-the-a50 and there will be a paper copy of the petition available to sign at The Seven Sisters ice cream shop within the next few days.