Several Marlborough residents have called for Wiltshire Council to lower the speed limit on the A4 near Savernake Hospital after a woman pedestrian died in a fatal crash yesterday. 

A blue BMW 328 careered off the A4 London Road just before 5.30pm yesterday, hitting the woman in her 50s who was later pronounced dead at the scene. 

Police said that both the BMW and a yellow Seat Leon Cupra were rounding a bend on the approach to the hospital heading in the Froxfield direction when the crash happened.

Two men, one aged 24 and the other 27 from the Marlborough area, were arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. Both have been released on conditional bail.  

The speed limit on that stretch of road is 50mph but one resident believes more lives will be lost if it is kept the same. 

Terry Nichols, of Rogers Meadow, said: "Why would you have a 50mph zone past a hospital when there is a crossing and a bus stop there too? There will be more people killed! 

"How much do you think it costs to call a helicopter out and take someone from Marlborough to Oxford like it has done before when we could just change the speed limit."

There is a 30mph zone from the town which residents are urging the council to extend into the series of bends that provided the backdrop to this week's fatality. 

Nigel Kerton, of St Margaret's Mead, said: "I cannot understand why the 30mph limit does not go further out to the bends. 

"Anybody leaving Savernake Hospital on foot has to cross the road to get to the footpath. The road there is 50mph but no one is going at 50. I live at the bottom of the hill and people are coming past us at 50 or 70 mph.

"The A4 has claimed so many lives and it remains a hazardous road because it hasn't been changed."

Since the accident the road has become a hot topic among the Marlborough community on Facebook and one 18-year-old who lives on London Road has started a petition to lobby Wiltshire Council which currently has 50 signatures.

Emily Palmer said: "I live on London Road, so people are always speeding past our house but I know they get even faster as they approach the 50mph zone. My parents have been quite concerned about it.

"When someone does die it makes it all too real. It should have been changed before - one life is one too many."

Miss Palmer, who regularly walks along the road, said she feels "unsafe" next to the speeding cars and hopes the council will take their concerns seriously. 

A spokesperson for Wiltshire Council said: "Our thoughts are with the lady's family and friends at this difficult time, however it would be inappropriate to comment on this incident while we await the coroner's report."

To sign the petition visit bit.ly/SavernakeHospitalSpeed.