When a cyclist was knocked off their bike in Killinghall and taken to hospital this month, it was the latest in a spate of incidents on the village’s roads that have got residents worried.

Back in February, a car hit a stationary van on the A61 – the main road through the village – and narrowly missed hitting its owner, before making off.

Less than a week later, a 17-year-old was taken to hospital after being knocked off his stationary moped on Grainbeck Lane by a car-owner who was later fined for careless driving.

This month, the incident with the cyclist happened on May 4, and just three days later, one car ended up on top of another at the turn-off for Daleside Nursery.

At about the same time, a group of schoolgirls in the village were putting up signs on lampposts urging motorists to slow down, after they had found several squashed hedgehogs on the Otley Road.

Such is the sense of danger on Killinghall’s roads that one resident has even taken to wearing a brightly coloured coat to increase her visibility – and to avoid sharing the fate of the hedgehogs.

She told us:

A decades-old issue

Yet the issue is not new. As long ago as 35 years ago, a local newspaper ran a story about Killinghall resident Laura Brough, an 80-year-old who had had to wait for as long as two hours by the side of the road before a safe enough gap in the traffic appeared to enable her to cross.

The problem had become so acute that on the homeward journey from shopping trips in Harrogate she had taken to getting off the bus a mile up the road in Ripley, where crossing the road was safer, and then catching the bus back to Killinghall so she could get off on the side of the A61 where her home was – adding half an hour and extra expense to her trip.

She said at the time that a pedestrian crossing was needed, and that finally appeared some years later – but it’s not enough for a linear village, say some.

And they fear the problem will become even worse if planning applications for housing developments are given the go-ahead.

Ms Brough’s daughter, Susan Hirst, still lives in the village and told us:

Increase in traffic

The resident who wears the brightly coloured coat thinks there is “twice as much traffic” as there was 10 years ago, but another resident, Fiona Pepper, thinks it’s even higher. In her objection to plans by Bellway Homes to build 120 homes in a field on the northern edge of the village, Ms Pepper wrote:

Development will 'intensify the risks'

The Bellway application is one of several currently in the pipeline that could, if all approved, add more than 400 new homes to Killinghall.

That’s a prospect that Killinghall Together would rather not see. The campaign group was formed by residents concerned that that the scale of proposed development risks overwhelming local infrastructure and permanently damaging the village’s character. But members also worry about the impact on Killinghall’s roads.

Following the incident with the cyclist two weeks ago, Killinghall Together spokesperson James Houseman asked:

The decision on the Bellway development is due to be made before the end of the month. In the meantime, many Killinghall residents are hoping it will be the first in a series to be rejected by planners – and not just for the sake of the hedgehogs.