THE Gazette campaign will raise the A4 on Wiltshire County Council's priority list, believes Chippenham Mayor Coun Desna Allen.

Coun Allen has helped collect hundreds of signatures for the A4 petition, which will be presented to the county council's regulatory committee on December 17 by Coun Allen and Calne Mayor Coun Tony Trotman.

The petition demands that the council implements safety measures on the road between Chippenham and Calne including a lower speed limit.

"I think it has made an impact," said Coun Allen.

In March, the county council will assess which roads are top priority.

Coun Allen said: "It has been put in the public eye and it will make them put it higher on the priority list."

There have been eight accidents reported by the Gazette on the four-mile stretch of road in the last year. Geoffrey Smith, 60, from Calne, was killed in a crash near the Murco garage in September while driving to work.

Chippenham town councillor Bill Douglas, who operates from the garage, has phoned relatives when people have been injured, and has seen people being cut out of vehicles and taken to hospital by air ambulance.

Residents fear for their lives each time they leave or enter their drives which lie directly off the A4.

Mother-of-three Karen Smith was turning her car into her drive when she was hit by another car in October.

She said: "It is a miracle that we all got out of our cars without scratch."

Petitions can be found at the Gazette's Chippenham and Devizes offices or online at www.dhbfc.org.uk