VILLAGERS claim more should be done to increase the safety of a busy commuter route.

Residents living in Tortworth claim they have been campaigning for years for more to be done to the B4509 to make it safer for road users.

The claims come after the road, which is used by motorists accessing junction 14 of the M5, was the scene of a fatal car accident last weekend. Mother-of-two Halla Kamel, 45, of Yate, was killed when she came off the road on Sunday, July 6.

Edgar Cooksley, 76, of Tortworth Green Farm, has lived along the busy road all his life.

He said: "That road is the main connection to the motorway and that's the problem because some people think they are still on the motorway.

"They say they won't do anything until someone is killed but people have been killed and still they do nothing."

In February 2004 the speed limit along the B4509 was reduced from 60 to 40mph.

Cllr Fen Marshall, chairman of Torthworth Parish Council, said: "Up until a few years ago the speed limit along that road was unlimited. There was also the suggestion at one point for a third lane as you come up the hill.

"But what the people of Tortworth would really like is for another junction to be added to the M5 at Earthcott and that would reduce a lot of the heavy traffic we get through the village from Yate."

South Gloucestershire Council says it has been working hard to make the road as safe as possible.

A council spokeswoman said: "South Gloucestershire Council takes the issue of road safety extremely seriously and has put in place a number of measures to try and reduce the risk of accidents occurring at this location.

"Since May 2007 this is a site that has been regularly visited by a mobile Speedvisor, a sign which flashes the speed limit to alert motorists to the legal limit.

"We have also carried out accident remedial works on this route in the past, which included treating the sharp bends at the bottom of the hill east of the M5 junction and works to the Wotton Road junction."

Members of the council's road safety team have also been going into Tortworth Primary School to work with local children on road safety.

In addition the council is currently running a consultation on £15,000 worth of road improvements it would like to make on the B4509, including reducing vegetation and increasing signage.

Interested members of the public can have their say by Friday, August 1 by visiting https://consultations.southglos.gov.uk/inovem/consult.ti/B4509TortworthSchool/consultationHome.