The A43 between Northampton and Kettering is officially the most dangerous road in Northamptonshire - 32 people killed or seriously injured between end 2002 and end 2005. For the official police data from April 2006 click here. In absolute terms, this is nearly twice as many people killed and seriously injured than the next most dangerous stretches of road - the individual segments of the M1 with 17 KSI each !
So in proportion to the traffic flows, presumably far larger on the M1, this bit of the A43 could be ten or even a hundred times more dangerous than the M1.
The Kettering-Northampton A43 is one of Northamptonshire's designated 'red routes' to be targeted for road safety improvements. You can read more about these red routes by clicking here. The police, council, courts, highways agency and health authority work together in a 'casualty reduction partnership' (click here) to try to make roads safer.
But we have seen little benefit from this partnership here - just lots of confusing signs so far. The partnership doesn't seem to be very transparent.
The A43 is a most dangerous road in a number of different places. I am concerned with the Tiffield turn near St Johns school. My family have to to travel with the traffic into Northampton, where the slip road is far too short particularly as the road is up an incline and it is difficult to gain sufficient speed to prevent fast lorries from coming up very close behind! We also have to travel to Towcester & Milton Keynes which means crossing two lanes of fast moving traffic on both carriageways. The traffic coming from Blisworth adds to a dangerous situation.
The speed camera is positioned so that traffic slows for the Blisworth turn but then speeds up so that a driver at the Tiffield turn has to deal with high speed vehichles & even vehicles coming from the farm entrance opposite.
Posted by: Bob Cox | 12/08/2008 at 11:45 AM