A43 - road safety campaign

Stakeholder Meeting report - no action until middle of next decade

A report from Chrissie Osborne of the 'Stakeholder Meeting' held by Northamptonshire County Council on 1 August 2008 - we first flagged this up here.  In short more disappointing prevarication when we know there are simple things that can be done now to make the road safer and increase capacity.

'We met the Road Planning man from the County Council, who gave us a short power point talk.  Nothing much has changed inasmuch that it will be the middle period of the next decade before what is ultimately decided in this process is started. Everyone laughed at this and talked of when all this was up for discussion before 20 yrs ago,

'The next step is to do surveys on the road re traffic and we meet again after this for another discussion!
The following problems were itemised

• Strategic connectivity
• Traffic congestion
• Road Safety
• Rat running.
• Severance  ( getting from one side of the road to the other)
• Environmental Issues

'We then split up into workshops, about 7 in each group, and discussed our issues. After this a spokesperson from each group reported back to those assembled.

'There was a startling lack of focus on Road Safety. The main gripes were bunching traffic at Round Spinney and the A14 Kettering end at peak times.

'Although I talked to 50mph making the traffic flow more smoothly small areas of dual carriageway were suggested so that traffic knew when overtaking was coming up and were therefore not impatient to overtake in silly places.

'But in reality it will take many years to build these short stretches of dual carriageway, during which time more and more accidents will happen.'

A43 'Transport Study' - will something happen at last or will accidents deaths and injury continue?

A new transport study into the A43 Northampton-Kettering area is under way by the specialist engineers MGWSP working for Northants County council.  It is helpful finally to get some proper work done on the problems the road faces.  But we can't wait until next year before getting something done. 

This site has been lobbying since 2006 for some basic safety improvements. In particular putting in a sensible 50 mph speed limit for all vehicles to reduce accidents and congestion.  This means lorries can go a bit quicker and cars slower so there is less dangerous overtaking.  The Council have done absolutely nothing since 2006 to make the A43 safer.  The Government have made it absolutely clear that Northants County Council is responsible for the road, not the DfT in London.  Because the road is unsafe people drive through the villages parallel to the road.  So the Council are doing a study.  This site will become active again as we follow the study.  Sign up for an email update (on the left of the screen) each time we post something new.

There is a 'stakeholder group' on Friday for MGWSP to guage the extent of local feeling as a precursor to the study and one would hope build a community around making the road safer quickly (see below).

MGWSP have just been appointed this year with a lucrative £320m contract over 8 years.  It is their job to look after roads:

Bob Seery, Northamptonshire County Council's cabinet member for roads and transport, commented: “MGWSP were identified as the best bidder based on the needs of the council and for the county's roads going forward. MGWSP will play a key role in the development of highways programmes and projects. The contract will look to develop and bring forward innovations in highways management using all the latest technology to secure the best value for money.”

The invite to a consultation/stakeholder event follows:

>>I am writing to inform you of the transport study that is currently taking place on the A43 between Northampton and Kettering and to ask for your involvement in the process.
The study at this stage is gathering information through surveys which will be carried out in the autumn, to identify possible options on how to tackle the congestion issues along this stretch of road.
These options will then be taken forward next year and explored further with a view to developing a scheme to implement in future years.
Currently many people use the roads through the villages to avoid the congestion on the A43 and we therefore intend that our study should cover the area bounded by Northampton in the south, the A14 in the north, A508 to the west and A509 to the east.
We are keen to ensure that we take on the views of the local communities and have therefore organised a stakeholder meeting to which we are inviting the councils representing the study area so that we have a comprehensive view of the problems related to the A43.
This initial meeting will be mainly to establish that the surveys we are intending to carry out in the autumn are suitable.
The details of this stakeholder meeting are as follows:
Date:    Friday 1st August 2008
Time:   10:00 – 12:00
Venue: Kettering Conference Centre
Thurston Drive
Kettering
Northants, NN15 6PB
Tel (of the venue): 01536 414 414
Please could you let me know if you or a representative are able to attend this meeting.
Yours sincerely
Rula Abou-Rahme
Transport Planner
Email: [email protected]
Rula Abou-Rahme
Transport Planner 
MGWSP Northamptonshire Highways
2nd Floor, Riverside House, Riverside Way, Northampton, NN1 5NX
DDI: +44(0)1604 654661

A43 road safety - basics

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