The Gazette and Herald's Slow It Down campaign, which set out to make a dangerous stretch of the A4 a safer place to drive, has proved a success but there is still more work to be done.

The A4 between Calne and Chippenham has been the scene of many accidents and claimed many lives and finally Wiltshire County Council has agreed to implement new speed limits in a bid to get drivers to slow down.

The regulatory committee agreed to set a 50mph speed limit from Chippenham towards Calne until the Saab garage where it will become 40mph up to the junction with Derry Hill.

The Gazette campaign was launched after the death of Geoffrey Smith in an accident near Derry Hill in September 2003.

Mr Smith, a 60-year-old optical engineer from Carpenters Close, Calne, was driving to a morning appointment when his car was involved in a collision with a lorry on the A4 near the Saab garage.

His widow Chris was among the hundreds who signed the Gazette's petition but this week she said the county council's response did not go far enough.

"A lot more needs to be done," she said. "I still think we need two roundabouts on that stretch one at Studley crossroads and one at the bottom of Derry Hill.

"People do not stick to speed limits, and roundabouts would make them slow down."

Mrs Smith said she was disappointed but not surprised at the outcome and she is still talking to councillors in a bid to push for further change.

Former Calne Mayor, town and North Wiltshire district councillor Tony Trotman, also lambasted the county council for failing to make any changes at the Studley crossroads.

"I am trying to persuade the county council to look at that area," he said. "It is possible the garden centre at Studley adjacent to the junction might be redeveloped, so the county council will probably leave it until then.

"But I would prefer to see the county council standing up and taking on the responsibility. I would like to see the crossroads turned into a mini roundabout."

Coun Trotman said he was also pressing the county council to repaint white lines on the A4 between Calne and Chippenham, and to reinstate broken cats' eyes.

"I think half the problem is caused by drivers cutting across the road," he said.

"Any traffic measures are better than none but there is a lot of support in the town council for more."

Chippenham Mayor Ross Henning, who was also involved in the Gazette's campaign, said he was reasonably happy with the outcome.

"The measures haven't gone far enough but I think it will do for now," he said. "We really need to do something at the Studley crossroads and I would have liked to have seen a 40mph speed limit from Derry Hill to Chippenham.

Andrew Wyatt, group manager of traffic and road safety at Wiltshire County Council, said work was currently underway to upgrade signing along the A4 between Calne and Chippenham. Mr Wyatt also said the new speed restrictions would come into force in April.