RODNEY Drive residents have renewed their call for council action to cut the din and danger posed by speedsters turning the quiet road into a rat run.

More than 50 local homeowners have signed a second petition urging the town hall to put the brakes on the antisocial antics of car drivers and motorcyclists they claim are ignoring the speed limit on the Mudeford road.

"Although Rodney Drive and surrounding areas are high density built-up areas with a recognised 30 mph speed limit there is a great deal of manic racing by drivers day and night," say authors of the the petition which will be presented to mayor and Mudeford ward councillor Josephine Spencer at the meeting of the full council next Tuesday.

The petitioners add: "We would like action to be taken on this matter before someone is killed or maimed."

Similar fears were voiced 18 months ago when an 80-name petition canvassed in Rodney Drive and surrounding roads was presented to Cllr Mrs Spencer during her previous mayoral year.

Petition organiser Valerie Simpson told the council on that occasion that young scooter riders and motorists using Rodney Drive as a rat run caused "a great deal of irritation" to residents in the area. "Something must be done to slow these types of drivers," she said.

Her petition was referred to the council's Community Services Committee in December 2005 when councillors were told that monitoring would be carried out in Rodney Drive as part of a rolling programme of traffic calming measures.

Monitoring was carried out over three weeks in June of last year to collected data on the time, type and speed of more than 16,500 vehicles using Rodney Drive during the survey period.

Figures collated from that survey will shortly be reported to the Community Services Committee along with the latest petition when councillors consider the traffic calming programme for the whole of the borough.

Cllr Mrs Spencer said: "I am delighted that something may be done because there has been concern for a number of years about the traffic in Rodney Drive. It seems to be something that is long overdue."