This website is about making this dangerous road safer for drivers and people who live near it. The stretch A43 trunk road between Kettering and Northampton in Northamptonshire, England is incredibly dangerous. The road is single-carriageway with heavy fast traffic as cars and lorries race between the MI near Northampton and the A14 that links the ports in the East to the Midlands via the M1 and M6
- According to Police figures, (click here for police data) this is the most dangerous stretch of road in Northamptonshire - more dangerous than the M1 !
- speeding is endemic, averaging cameras are needed to control it - there isn't one speed camera. An average speed reduction will reduce accidents and increase road capacity.
- overtaking should be banned - the fast but twisting road is full of optical illusions making overtaking dangerous. A cheap double white line down the centre would solve the problem
- people living on the road take their lives in the hands when turning off and on to it from their homes, farms and villages - my postman hates coming here
- calls to turn the road into a dual carriageway are simplistic and have been around since 1991 - meanwhile people have died and been injured. Even if approved now dualling will do nothing for 15 years (click here - see end of article). The A43 Lumbertubs Way (click here) was deadly dangerous even though it is already a dual carriageway.
- attempts to make the road safer through signage have often made it worse with dozens of bewildering signs
- the edge of the road is very hard to see at night (there are few street lights and long stretches of white line missing) red-reflecting cats eyes would solve this
I totally agree about the signage - the signs at the Walgrave junction actually obscure visibility of the oncoming traffic for cars turning off the A43 into Walgrave.
Additionally, there are two bridleways in regular use which cross this section of the A43 and are particularly dangerous owing to lack of visibility, limited width gateways to the road (alongside locked gates) and large traffic flows. I would like to see some sort of crossings installed - which also may help slow traffic.
Posted by: Jenny Frost | 16/12/2006 at 08:22 PM