A SPEED-activated sign could soon be appearing on a road which people claim is being used like a racetrack.

Ledbury Town Council is looking into hiring a speed indication device (SID) for use on the Hereford Road, between the Homend junction and the Leadon Way roundabout.

People living in News Mills who set up the Hereford Road Action Group, have described the stretch as “an accident waiting to happen”.

They say drivers regularly travel at 70 and 80 miles per hour, on an edge of town stretch where the speed limit is 30mph.

The campaign has won the backing of a Herefordshire councillor for Ledbury, Peter Watts, who welcomed the idea a sign could soon be in place.

“This is one way of reminding motorists that there is a speed limit there, and they need to keep to that limit,” he said.

There have been no fatalities on the stretch, but there is a bus stop and the road is regularly crossed by school children.

The town council is also considering other traffic calming measures and the use of speed traps, in the form of mobile speed camera vans.

These could also be deployed in the Southend, at the approach to the John Masefield High School, where speeding traffic is also a problem.

The cost of hiring an SID would be a £150 contribution to Herefordshire Council, plus socket installation costs of £405.

The cost for buying the sign outright would be £4,050, not including installations costs, but this is not being considered.