A family friend of a young motorcyclist tragically killed on a dangerous Pembrokeshire junction says that her attempts to place Think Bike! signs there have hit a linguistic roadblock.

Ashley Rogers of Kilgetty, was travelling along the A477 towards Pembroke when he was involved in a fatal road traffic collision at the Nash Fingerpost junction on the morning of Saturday, May 13.

The 29-year-old was due to be married two weeks later and leaves behind a very young son, fiancée and distraught family.

A GoFundMe to help support Ashley’s young son and fiancé has reached £32,250.

There have been three fatalities at the Nash Fingerpost junction in the last 12 years. A recent petition to improve safety measures there has gained more than 10,000 signatures.

Since Ashley’s funeral, family friend Yvette Weblin-Grimsley has been working to get Think Bike! signs put up at the junction, hopefully as a temporary measure until a more permanent solution is found.

“I am trying to do my very best to stop this happening again as it could be years before we get the roundabout or traffic lights here that we so desperately need,” said Yvette.

“In the meantime we need to get vehicles to pause and think.

Western Telegraph: Yvette has been told that bilingual Think Bike! signs do not exist

Yvette has been campaigning to get two signs put up on the approach to the junction, on the A4075 Road coming from the Pembroke direction.

“Ashley’s Mother and I were talking at his funeral and she said if a warning sign could be put up on the Nash Fingerpost junction while we wait for road improvements, if it saves one life, Ashley’s life won't have been in vain,” said Yvette.

Despite her hard work Yvette has not yet been able to get the signs in place.

She has been told that there are no Think Bike! signs in the whole of Wales as they have to be bilingual and there are no signs available with both English and Welsh.

“This is completely understandable," she said. "But it made me think straightaway that it seems a Welsh motorcyclist’s life is not as important as an English motorcyclist’s life if they have them all over the place on dangerous junctions in England but there are none available in Wales.” 

Yvette has questioned how some temporary signs, such as those for the Long Course Weekend road closures, can be in English only when she has been told that all temporary road signage has to be bilingual.

She also fears, following numerous emails from traffic and transport departments and the Welsh Government, that signs reading ‘No U turns’ are to be put up at the junction.

“I could scream,” said Yvette who travels the road twice a day. “U-turns have never ever been an issue here.”

Yvette has now commissioned a local company for a quote for a Think Bike! sign with both Welsh and English on it.

Western Telegraph: Ashley's friends have set up a fundraiser to support his young son and his fiancee.

“As the powers that be appear to be completely lacking in common sense, I have taken it upon myself to ask local company Signspeed to quote me for the complete making and design of a sign,” she said.

Yvette hope to be able to present this quote at a meeting with the CEO of Pembrokeshire County Council, who she has been told is responsible for the road and move the situation forward.

“In my mind these signs are incredibly important as they stand the chance of making a vehicle driver think twice before they pull out,” she said.

“We need Think Bike! signs to try to make people pause at that junction. We are trying to save lives here and all we are faced with is obstacles.”