RESIDENTS are stepping up calls for speed restrictions on the A429 Chippenham road after a driver was airlifted to hospital following a three-car accident.

The crash at 8.26pm last Wednesday involved a red Citroen, a Ford Fiesta and a blue Rover Metro.

The 43-year-old Chippenham man was driving the Ford Fiesta towards Malmesbury, between the Grange Lane junction and Burton Hill House School, heading out of Malmesbury.

He was airlifted to Salisbury General Hospital, following the accident.

Sub Officer Dave Jacomb, of Chippenham fire station, said firefighters from Chippenham attended.

He said the Fiesta was in collision with a red Citroen that had stopped beside the road with its hazard warning lights flashing.

The Fiesta crossed on to the opposite side of the road, facing oncoming traffic, and collided with the blue Rover Metro.

Two 17-year-olds who were travelling in the Metro were taken to Swindon's Princess Margaret Hospital.

The 54-year-old Citroen driver, who lives in Frome, was uninjured.

The road was closed in both directions for six hours, reopening at 1.51am.

John Wheatley, who lives near the entrance to Burton Hill House School, said he arrived home shortly after the accident. He believes it sends a clear message that the proposed 40mph restriction should be extended on to Grange Lane.

"We seem to have to wait for something like this to happen before people admit that there is a problem," said Mr Wheatley.

"We welcome the 40mph limit but we want to extend that beyond Grange Lane, which is a particularly nasty stretch of road."

Residents in Filands have said they wanted the speed limit reduced from 60mph to at least 40mph on the Filands junction.

Last week traffic on the A429 near Tetbury Hill, near the Filands junction, was disrupted for 90 minutes after a man driving a white Escort collided with a white Proton and a Land Rover Discovery.

The woman Proton driver was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital with leg injuries and whiplash.