Coroner asks agency to probe road blackspot
Wednesday 7th October 2009, 8:00PM BST.
Telford’s coroner is to ask the Highways Agency to look at a one-mile accident blackspot on a Shropshire road.
Telford & Wrekin coroner Mr Michael Gwynne had previously asked police to compile a report on the busy A41 Newport to Wolverhampton road and presented the findings for the first time today.
Speaking at the inquest on 81-year-old pensioner William Henry Todd, Mr Gwynne revealed there had been five fatalities, seven serious injuries and 44 other collisions on the road since 2000.
Mr Gwynne said: “I am going to refer this report to the Highways Agency because I am concerned with the A41 and the history of collisions over the last eight years.”
He recorded a verdict of accidental death for Mr Todd. The court heard the pensioner, of Sheinton Road, Cressage, near Shrewsbury, had just set out for a two-week caravan holiday in the Isle of Wight when the accident happened at 3am on May 9. Mr Todd was planning to travel with his partner Margaret Elshaw and her daughter Gaynor Elshaw, and had stopped on the side of the A41 at Woodcote to pick up her luggage.
At some point Mr Todd stepped out into the road and was hit by a Peugeot 206 car driven by Christopher Hawley, from Dawley, who was returning home from work following a night shift. Collision investigator Constable Neil Williams told the court a lorry had overtaken the static caravan moments before the collision occurred.
He said he thought that would have obscured the vision of both Mr Todd and Mr Hawley, who was travelling under the speed limit at about 50mph.
“It is likely that the driver did not have time to react to the pedestrian appearing in the highway,” Constable Williams said.
No criminal charges were brought against Mr Hawley following the collision.
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Condolences to the family of Mr Todd.
One must ask who is advising Mr Gwynne, he again fails to realise that the Highways Agency does not control that part of the A41 that passes through Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin. Whilst every fatality is a tragedy the facts are that most of the accidents are due to poor driving and not generally due to the road layout. What people need to realise is that the road carries a large number of HGV’s towards the north and into the West Midlands compared to many other similar roads. The chances for overtaking these seemingly slow moving vehicles are limited and can encourage risk taking by some drivers. I believe that drivers can be often preoccupied by following the same vehicle for mile upon mile and this can result in rear end shunts as shown by some previous accidents.
While I accept the right of Mr Gwynne to air his views on this road he must remember that this route is shared by a number of highway authorities and has speed camera activity at a number of locations
Despite what well meaning campaigners want, changes to the prevailing speed limit would never be enforceable
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Most of the accidents on this road (or any in the uk come to think of it) don’t involve exceeding the speed limit (as in the case above I believe.)
Most of the time it is difficult to exceed 40MPH on this road due to the volume of lorries BUT reducing the speed limit to 40MPH would prevent sensible overtaking and cause more frustration and accidents.
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How can reducing the speed limit and stopping overtaking cause more accidents? In the last couple of years there have been many fatalities between Tern Hill and Newport, as well as the section south of Newport.
There are parts where 60mph may be ok, such as Newport and Hinstock bypasses, but in between a reduction in speed limit is long over due. There are many homes, junctions, pubs and businesses by the side of these parts of the road. Clearly 60mph vehicles and high volumes of HGVs do not mix well with the pedestrians, dustbin wagons, delivery vehicles and turning and stopping cars. Clearly accidents will continue to happen in these conditions until the speed limit is lowered to 30 or 40mph passed peoples houses.
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Harold, cutting down on overtaking oportunities and reducing speeds to 30 or 40MPH is madness on a busy trunk road like this as anyone who drives professionally will tell you.
The delays and risk taking in overtaking stretches will will increase and make the road even more dangerous. It isn’t always speed or overtaking that kills but stress, tiredness and inattention which is useually brought on by ridiculously slow progress.
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“In the last couple of years there have been many fatalities between Tern Hill and Newport,”
Yes but how many have been due to excessive speed and overtaking. The last two, that I recall, were due to soneone having a heart attack and some one stepping into the road.
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Just in case you still think that lower speeds and less overtaking makes for a safer road, you only have to look at the eastern primary after its changes and raised accident levels, to see the answer to that.
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If I place a garden gnome at the side of the road near Woodcote, and accidents fall over the next 3 years, I can then claim that garden gnomes save lives.
And as Brian alludes to, the last thing we need on our roads are more stressed-out, bored drivers.
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Brian: It is certain that many accidents could have resulted in injuries and not a fatality, if the vehicles had been going slower. Reducing the amount of overtaking in dangerous places (near pedestrians, homes and junctions) will clearly reduce accidents. Your argument doesn’t stand up because the slowest speeds are in traffic queues, when you are most bored and stressed, yet you don’t get many fatalities in traffic standing still.
No one would advocate a 30 or 40mph on the for mentioned bypasses, just in places where there are hazards, its easy on the A41 to get into the mode of driving at 60 continuously as there are few interruptions like roundabouts and as you’ll know the quality of the A41 varies greatly along its length – then so should the speed limit. On motorways they reduce speed limits just when there is ‘hard shoulder running’ or roadworks, often to less than outside these homes on the A41.
As for your comment on ‘it is hard to reach 40mph’ you obviously haven’t stood by the side of the A41 road. Even in rush hour the vehicles are flying along at extreme speeds. Most lorries are travelling at nearly 60 even when they shouldn’t so they are not even holding up cars, and it seems that only ‘Culina’ are prepared to stick to their limit.
You admit that it’s a busy road (but it is NOT a trunk road!) – This is really what should be addressed as it is clearly not suitable for this in many places. Shropshire doesn’t have many roads that are OK for this amount and type of traffic, and yet it needs good transport infrastructure due to the rural nature of the county.
It is clear that you do not notice the homes when you are driving along the A41, or that you are just inconsiderate in that you won’t slow down where people are living. From your posts it seems you just want to drive as fast as you can everywhere and the other people don’t matter – I would normally call that selfish.
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Winja: You wouldn’t be able to place a garden gnome or anything next to the A41 road without it being blown away by the traffic which would cause an accident and probably another death. Heavens forbid we have bored drivers on the road, next you will be advocating free PS3s and Wiis to keep them less bored whilst driving. I didn’t want to reduce the speed on the bypasses or straight wide roads where 60mph is fine, just reduce it where deliveries, pedestrians, stopping and starting are taking place.
However talking about stress you don’t seem to care about the stress of the people who live next to the road or what its like to be thrown over by the speeding traffic winds when putting your wheelie bin out or collecting the post etc. By the way – if gnomes did reduce accidents I would be all for gnomes everywhere.
Both the above comments above are against a reduction in speed, where it is appropriate to save lives, as well as improve the quality of lives for people who live on the A41. Whereas I am all for improving roads building new roads/bypasses, reducing deaths/accidents and having a more consistent speed limit which is appropriate for the road conditions. Don’t reduce speeds just for the sake of it, like the latest 50 proposal for the countryside or Telford’s A442 dual carriageway. Rather that fighting against reductions for specific problems, your time would be better spent lobbying the Council/Government to build better roads and improve the quality of the roads we have, to reduce the problems and deaths.
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Harold, I’m afraid that you really don’t have a clue what you are talking about.
Firstly the A41 is a major trunk road (despite a de trunking order in 2002) which explains the high amount of lorries on it which are, incedentally, limited to 53MPH so cannot travel at nearly 60MPH as you claim.
As an ex professional driver myself who has clocked up about a million miles in the last 35 years and used to travel the A41 daily, I can assure you that traffic flow along there varies in speed considerably and will do naturally as the “hazards” present themselves.
To believe that only bypasses are worthy of a 60MPH speed limit is naive beyond comprehension and shows a total lack of driving experience on your part.
As for your stupid statement of “As for your comment on ‘it is hard to reach 40mph’ you obviously haven’t stood by the side of the A41 road.”
Are you telling me that you have an inbuilt speed detector?
Surely as someone who drives the road regularly (not just judging your little patch of frontage), I am better qualified (looking at a speedo), to say if the traffic rarely exceeds 40MPH, than you are stood by the side of the road.
As for being selfish, I would define selfish as someone who buys a house on a busy (or trunk) road and then tries to get the speed limit dropped from what it has been for many decades just for their own convenience whilst, at the same time, inconveniencing many thousands of people who use that road safely on a weekly basis.
You can always move somewhere quieter Harold but the people who use that road daily don’t have that choice.
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Brian – This is becoming tit for tat with your comments getting nowhere. I think its you that doesn’t have a clue as it sounds you are no longer a regular driver on the A41 and things have changed a lot since your driving days.
1, The A41 is Not a trunk road – you admit it was ‘de-trunked’. It is now just a primary route maintained by local authorities and not the Highways Agency.
2, I did not state ‘only bypasses are worthy of a 60MPH’ – you should re-read the words – as I suggested it should be reduced ‘just in places where there are hazards’.
3. As for an in built speed detector and only standing besides the road, anyone who does will quickly be able to judge held up and non held up vehicles, slow vehicles and fast vehicles. Myself and the other residents of the A41 drive along the road numerous times day and night and like you can also read a ‘speedo’ to constantly monitor the traffic flying passed when over taking us or behind us pushing us along the road when driving at the speed limit. The people who live next to and use the road many times a day and at different times day and night are the most experienced and quickly become very experienced at judging vehicles speeds.
4. Regarding your 53 mph HGV limit – The EU limiters are set to 90kph which is 56mph not 53 as you say. However British law allows HGVs to travel at 60mph on motorways so that probably explains why so many HGVs seem to have had their limiters tampered with! But even the 53mph you mention is 13 above the 40mph that HGVs are restricted to on single carriageways like the A41.
5. As for being me being selfish, the lower limits aren’t just about ‘our frontage’ its about all the residents along the A41 as well as their families, guests and delivery people that visit, hardly selfish thinking about others. It’s also for the responsible drivers that use the A41 who can end up involved in accidents which are not their fault. With the greatest respect you are entitled to your views however they seem un-researched in this case.
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Harold, I still drive the A41 regularly, probably three or four times monthly, so know that little has changed along it for decades apart for the newport by pass, hinstock by pass and a few speed cameras. The fact that it is no longer classed as a “trunk road” does not stop it being the main route from Wolverhampton to the Wirral and no motorways have been built since 2002 to replace its use by heavy goods vehicles so does it really matter if it is classed as a “trunk road” by the Government or not? How long have you lived there incidentally?
To you a “hazard” is someone’s house, are you suggesting that everyone should slow right down everytime they pass a roadside house ? …that would make journeys of say 100 miles take all day.
You say that “It’s also for the responsible drivers that use the A41 who can end up involved in accidents which are not their fault”. I travelled the road daily for years and still travel it and do not feel endangered when using it, why should you?
Do you know how the A/100mvkms compares to the national average for NSL rural roads and how many accidents along there involve speeding? I’m sure that its not above the national average or something would have been done about it before now.
“The people who live next to and use the road many times a day and at different times day and night are the most experienced and quickly become very experienced at judging vehicles speeds.”
Again this is a ridiculous statement. If this was the case the police would not need speed cameras but merely to recruit people who live or were born next to a main road. My mother lived next to a pub for 67 years of her life but never drank, does that make her an expert on alcoholism?….I THINK NOT!
It’s been proven many times, as in the case of Admaston Residents, that people think that traffic is “speeding” past their houses only to be proved wrong when police do speed checks using PROPER equipment.
A handful of selfish residents who want speed limits dropped which would cause delay to THOUSANDS of motorists is not only selfish but would do nothing to make that road any safer.
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Harold, I would also liketo draw your attention to
http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/01/24/road-safety-plea-rejected/#comment-61188
As you can see, The A41 is no more dangerous than any other road and the Government experts seem to disagree with your band of local “speed experts”!
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More people are killed by cars doing less than 40mph than over 40mph – thats a fact. Speed does not kill, stupidity does. Do you actually drive Harold?
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My horsebox is definitely limited to 53mph – very annoying as I don’t think I legally require it now it has been down plated to 7.5t PLG (was 12.5t HGV). It’s a right pain trying to overtake weekend-gypsies. In fact I really should do something about it as I am in fact driving it slower than necessary which is a known contributor of accidents.
How about every car is fitted with a CPU with a GPS, just like the pay-as-you-drive insurance schemes that never took off a few years ago? Then the state would know where and when everyone was and how fast they are going.
Say you were excessively speeding in a ‘black-spot’, instead of being hauled in front of the court, you would be hauled before VOSA who would reset the car’s CPU to reduce engine power for sat three months? Now that would be punishment and would not penalise ‘responsible speeders’.
Anyway I’m off to see the Bosch, where not only can they make decent cars, but they know how to drive them as well.
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