Plans to install traffic lights at one of Pembrokeshire’s most notorious accident blackspots are being strongly rejected  by motorists who use the Nash Fingerpost junction near Pembroke Dock.

Within hours of the Western Telegraph revealing earlier this week that traffic lights would be installed at the junction by the end of the current financial year, an urgent petition was set up by locals demanding that the lights be replaced with a roundabout.

Twenty-four hours later, petition organiser Laura Griffiths received notification that Petitions Committee chairman Jack Sargeant together with local MS Sam Kurtz, will be visiting the site later this month to discuss the road safety concerns surrounding this section of the A477.

“When I read the comments following the story published earlier this week, I knew something had to be done,” said Laura Griffiths.

“The strength of feeling against installing traffic lights at Nash Fingerpost is considerable, with most people being of the opinion that a roundabout is by far the safest and most satisfactory solution.

“We launched the petition and within an hour of me handing it in to the Welsh Government it was approved. Ninety minutes later I received notification that the petitions committee chairman will now be visiting the site on October 26.”

Laura Griffiths believes the Welsh Government’s decision to install lights is based on their under-estimation of the volume of traffic using what is one of the main roads into Pembrokeshire.

“We have freight traffic coming to and from the ferry at Pembroke Dock as well as all the vehicles visiting the Valero oil refinery and the MoD base at Castlemartin,” she said.

“And then you have the continuous volume of general traffic which increases significantly during the tourist seasons.

“The amount of traffic that uses this road on a daily basis has been severely under-estimated by the Welsh Government.

“Nowhere else along this stretch of road have traffic lights been considered with the result that there are roundabouts at Carew Cheriton, Sageston and Kilgetty and it goes without saying that lights at Nash Fingerpost will add significantly to people’s travelling times.

“Motorists are already having to adjust their journeys to fit in with the new 20mph speed restrictions, but if they’ll have to contend with traffic lights as well, they could find themselves having to sacrifice an extra 30 minutes of their family time.”

Earlier this week South Pembrokeshire MP Simon Hart also expressed his personal concerns over the traffic light decision.

“I’m disappointed that [the Welsh Government] isn't taking the opportunity to put in the roundabout that we have been calling for, for over a decade," he said.

“I’m concerned that lights will be yet more fiddling around the edges, whereas a roundabout would solve the problem for once and for all and also keep the traffic flowing freely.”

Pembrokeshire County Council has also made persistent calls for a roundabout to be positioned at Nash Fingerpost as opposed to traffic lights.

“For the local authority to put forward this idea shows that it’s an absolute priority, above and beyond others,” concluded Laura Griffiths.

“All we ask is a fair understanding of how our community feels about the dangers surrounding the junction and a sensible solution to the way forward.”

Also keen to see a roundabout at the site is Senedd Member, Samuel Kurtz.

“After the serious fatalities at the Nash Fingerpost junction, it’s absolutely right that the Welsh Government invest to make this junction safe, but I'm frustrated it’s taken them over 10 years to act,” he said.

“With roundabouts at Carew, Sageston and Kilgetty, a roundabout at the Nash Fingerpost junction would, for me and the community, be the natural remedy to the safety issue. So it must be the Welsh Government’s long-term solution to install a roundabout.

“Traffic lights will make the junction safer. But with such large volumes of traffic along the A477, and the A4075 from Pembroke, I sincerely hope that after the traffic lights are installed, the Welsh Government don’t just forget about this junction, the strength of feeling in the community and the need for a long-term solution -  a roundabout.”

People are now being urged to continue signing the petition in the run-up to October 26 and also submit their concerns to their local MP or town or county councillor.