Yesterday a young woman was tragically killed and her passenger seriously injured in a collision with a lorry on the A43 at one of the danger points this site has highlighted. Eye witnesses reported that the dead driver was overtaking at one of the many deceptively blind corners on the A43 and hit a lorry head on. Cheap and simple double white lines along the length of the A43 from Sywell to Kettering would have prevented this tragedy. We called for this here. The air ambulance was called out and the road closed for three hours according to the BBC (report here Radio Northampton also covered the crash) The survivor was said to be 'poorly' - a euphemism for seriously ill. Our sympathy goes to the families of those involved.
Since the last post we have been busy campaigning and lobbying the Council, the police, local hospitals and local politicians to take some simple measures to improve safety. We have been appalled by the indifference amongst council officials and some Councillors and the unwillingness to take simple steps to improve safety in the face of overwhelming official statistical evidence that this road is very dangerous. Officials seem to be hiding behind the downright weird confection that labelling the road a 'red route' makes a difference.
There are loads of simple things that can be done to improve the road without waiting 15 years for dualling. How many more people have to die in speed related or overtaking accidents on this deadly road before the Council takes action?
We don't think there is any evidence that this is making a difference to accident rates and indeed that no one knows what 'red routes' are in Northants.