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Call for action over killer road
A three-mile stretch of road through the Staffordshire countryside was today branded the most dangerous in the county following a spate of crashes.
The section of the A518 from Gnosall to Newport is littered with police signs appealing for information after a series of head-on smashes. They are the visible reminders to motorists of the lives lost on the road which residents insist should be made an urgent priority for improvements by council chiefs.
On Saturday, a former Gnosall guide leader, Astrid Garvey, 25, died at the roadside when her Ford Ka was involved in a head-on collision with a Ford Escort van in the early hours of the morning.
It was the second fatal accident in two months. In November, Gnosall mother-of-two Julie Stanworth and father-of-four Michael Masefield, from Telford, died on the A518 near Aqualate Hall.
And a fortnight ago the air ambulance was scrambled to the side of the road after three people received serious injuries in another head-on collision near Swan Pitt nursery.
Police are also appealing for information about an incident on November 19 when an 18-year-old was hit by a taxi on the road on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border.
Gnosall parish councillor Tony Innamorati today said the speed limit should be slashed from 60 to 50mph.
“The Leek to Buxton road in the north of Staffordshire has received a lot of coverage lately because of the number of accidents, but statistically I think the A518 is the most dangerous in the county,” he said.
“It isn’t just the fatal accidents, there are also many cases of people going off the roads. I think the limit needs to be reduced, there should be a weight restriction but the road is too narrow for HGVs and drivers also need to take more caution,” said Mr Innamorati.
Staffordshire County Council is installing pedestrian crossings in Gnosall and Haughton villages to improve safety, but campaigners say more drastic action is needed to tackle the dangers of the road away from residential areas.
Gnosall Parish Council clerk Cynthia Spencer said: “Minds now need to be concentrated on the difficult problem of improving the road outside of the village, but there are no easy solutions.
“Something needs to be done because there are too many terrible accidents and lives being lost.”
Staffordshire County Council spokeswoman Tamsin Carr said work to improve safety in the villages was taking place.
“But we can’t discuss the actual accidents until we receive reports from the police and coroner,” she added. “We will, however, be having meetings though with the parish councils and the police to see how we can improve safety.”
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