I was in car crash because of poor signage at roundabout

I drove up to Telford with my gran for a few days, and we were going into Telford to get some tea. As this is the first time I’ve been to Telford, I was relying on following the signs to direct me.

When I got to the town centre sign on the Hollingsgate roundabout, I automatically took the first exit which I think most people would do, both locals and visitors.

However, I realised it was a newly-adapted junction to the new Aldi that opened on Thursday, July 12, so I panicked and swerved out without indicating and ended up crashing into an SUV. Given that we were in a Nissan Micra, we didn’t really stand a chance, and we had quite a bit of damage on the bumper, left side wing and bonnet.

This accident happened because of a lack of decent signs, because the town centre sign was further round the roundabout than the car park, but I missed this until it was too late as I had to swerve onto the new chevrons repainted on within the last few days.

If the town centre sign had been under the car park sign, or if the Aldi/car park road had been coned off, this accident would never have happened.

As a young driver who’s been driving for less than 18 months, this shook me quite a bit, despite having a reasonable amount of experience on the roads.

I really want to highlight the dangers of turning off at this junction so other drivers, both experienced and inexperienced, don’t get involved in another unnecessary accident. I hope this can mean the road markings at this junction can be changed to be much less deceptive for all drivers.

Name and address supplied