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Report reveals most accident-hit roads
Friday 15th January 2010, 10:14AM GMT.
Roads with the highest accident rates are revealed in a report to Shropshire Council, which next week is expected to take action to cut speeding in parishes across the county.
The worst route is shown to be the A41 from Sandford to Tern Hill roundabout, near Market Drayton, where there were 54 accidents of “all severities” – fatal, serious and slight – over a five-year period from January 2004 to December 2008.
But also on the A41 during this period, there were 50 accidents at Albrighton on the county to Telford & Wrekin boundary.
Other routes with particularly high accident rates include the A454 (Bridgnorth to county boundary) with 45, the A488 (Shrewsbury to Minsterley) with 43, B4364 (Bridgnorth to Ludlow) with 42, and A458 (Bridgnorth to county boundary) with 39.
The roads are among a list of just over 120 which have been identified by parishes as possible locations for vehicle-activated speed signs.
The council has already carried out a pilot project using 10 such signs in various parts of Shropshire and on Thursday a meeting of the full authority will be recommended to adopt a policy which will lead to more of the signs being used.
A council report says: “Speeding was identified as a major concern by the residents of Shropshire during the consultation for the Local Transport Plan and continues to be raised on a regular basis in correspondence to officers and members.
“Studies suggest that when drivers reduce speed, collisions are less likely and if there are collisions, at lower speeds there will be less serious injury. This is particularly true for vulnerable road users.”
If adopted, the policy will also include 20mph zones at potential sign locations.
The report says that some parish councils have asked for permanent signs but this is not recommended as rotating the signs to different sites is proposed as part of the policy. They are considered to be more effective when not a constant feature, and draw more attention from drivers.
Some comments have been made that the policy is not cost effective and that speed enforcement is a police responsibility.
But the report adds that police resources to enforce speed restrictions are limited and that the policy is a “pragmatic approach to achieving some speed reduction”.
By Dave Morris
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It’s not surprising that the A41 is top of the list. The number of HGVs using that route, rather than the M6 a few miles to the East, is staggering. The convoys lead to slow moving queues, which lead to frustration, which lead to dangerous risks being taken.
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That these figures are so high is not really surprising, the impatience of some drivers is a threat to us all. Complete disregard for speed limits, and oncoming traffic almost caused a very bad accident this evening, just because one man want to get to his destination a few seconds earlier. than he would have if he had kept to the speed limits like the rest of the traffic on the road at that time.
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@Grey: Disregard for speed limits has nothing to do with it in a lot of cases. There are many times I’ve seen low powered cars, which struggle to even reach the speed limit, overtaking long HGVs and spending an alarming amount of time on the other side of the road in the process.
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Easy, innit.
First, identify those roads with poor accident records. Second, state that “something will be done to deter speeding motorists”.
This sort of thinking is lazy, and – more importantly – ineffective in the fight to reduce roads deaths. As I have stated more than a few times on ‘ere, road deaths in the over-25 age group where exceeding a speed limit was the DIRECTLY CAUSATIVE factor account for no more than 2% (TWO BLEEDING PERCENT) of all road deaths. So WHY are those empowered to do so, NOT addressing the other 98% of causative factors?
I suggest that the story above clearly states one of the reasons. “Speeding was identified as a major concern by the residents “. Sorry, but that’s a fail. The only people who should have any say, whatsoever, in traffic management policy are the Police and qualified Highways Engineers. How many of these “residents” actually know – with 100% certainty – what the primary causative factor was in any accident on an adjacent stretch of road? I’ll save you from wasting your time thinking; very, very few is the answer. The vast majority will be moral poseurs, looking to be seen to be doing “the right thing” by their village peers, but in fact having no effect on the problem at large and possibly making it worse.
Also:
“Studies suggest that when drivers reduce speed, collisions are less likely……..”. So the studies “suggest” it, yet do not confirm it?!? Sorry, but if swingeing new enforcements are to be applied I want the evidence behind them to be totally unambiguous. Not suggestive of it. No “maybe”, or “possibly”. Unambiguous.
I do well over 20,000 miles per year on all roads (A / B / DC / M-Way) and all I – personally – see is just rubbish driving standards, and no amount of VAS signs and lower speed limits will change that. What needs to happen is for people to take more bleedin pride in their driving skills, rather than taking it no more seriously than doing a bit of ironing.
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With regard to the accident statistics mentioned in the story, I’ve done a little digging; specifically the statistics from the Department for Transport concerning road deaths.
Rightly or wrongly, I decided to go back a little further in time than the dates in the feature: I’ve re-traced the figures between 2001 – 2008. The results are interesting, as follows:
A41 between Sandford & Tern Hill: no deaths
A454 between Bridgnorth & boundary: 3 deaths (’03, ’05, ’07)
A488 between S’bury & Minsterley: 2 deaths (’04, ’05)
B4364 between B’north & Ludlow: 4 deaths (’03, ’04, ’05, ’08)
All deaths on our roads are tragic, and every effort should be made to reduce the number where at all possible. But targeting speed, on roads – like the above – where the frequency of fatal accidents is not exceptional, is deadly, poor, and lazy thinking.
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