News Speed reduction call after crash
Residents are calling for action on a dangerous stretch of road following a road crash which left two people with multiple injuries.
The three-vehicle collision, which happened on the A614 near Howden last Friday, June 13, left one elderly woman with chest injuries and at least one fracture.
The 80-year-old was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary, where her condition suddenly deteriorated due to severe shock. However, at the time of going to press hospital staff said she was in a comfortable condition.
Also injured in the accident was 43-year-old Stuart Robinson, a police sergeant who, along with other residents living near the crash site, has been calling for traffic-calming measures and a reduction of the speed limit on the A614 Thorpe Road, which passes their homes on the Rosewoods estate.
Mr Robinson, who suffered ankle, back, knee, hip and whiplash injuries in the crash, said this week it was a "minor miracle" that he had survived the crash and walked free from the mangled wreck of his car.
And he described as "diabolical" the fact that the county council's Highways Department had failed to introduce measures to slow traffic down.
The police sergeant had been waiting to turn right onto his estate when his car, a Renault Megane Scenic, was struck by a Renault panel van. This led to a second collision with the elderly woman's Honda Civic.
'LUCKY TO BE ALIVE'
Mr Robinson said he was "very lucky to be alive", adding: "The next vehicle along was a huge truck and it just managed to stop in time. Another 10 seconds and it would have been curtains. If it had hit me I would have been dead."
Mr Robinson, who also suffered a broken tooth in the accident, said there had been an "accident just waiting to happen" on that stretch of road but the authorities had failed to act - despite repeated demands from residents for a lowering of the speed limit from 60mph to 40mph, new double white lines and a filter lane.
"They just don't seem to be interested," said Mr Robinson. "That would never have happened if there had been a filter lane. We have been asking the council to either do something with the speed limit or the filter lane, but nothing has been done."
According to Mr Robinson, there have been several near misses near the junction with Rosewoods, most of them occurring as motorists are either waiting to turn right from the A614 onto the estate, or pulling out onto the carriageway.
Mr Robinson, who has had to take time off work following the crash, said one resident was "gobsmacked" when he received an email from a highways officer advising motorists to turn into the nearby Plant Raisers industrial site on the other side of the road - then turn round and wait for the traffic to clear before crossing two lanes of the carriageway.
Mr Robinson said this was ridiculous advice and added that he was now considering legal action against the council for the injuries he has suffered.
Another big worry for Rosewoods residents is that there is no footpath between the estate and the A614.
"There are a lot of kids on this estate, yet there's not even a footpath," said Mr Robinson. "You go straight from the road onto the estate. There's a lot of traffic using that road, so we've been campaigning for double white lines to reduce the speed limit, but we were told that they can't do any of it."
Mr Robinson's wife Lesley said: "How my husband wasn't killed I've absolutely no idea. He usually has our two-year-old son in the car at that time. With an impact like that I dread to think what would have happened if he had been in the car."
She added: "Every resident on this estate has had near misses - it's just horrendous. There are kids living on this estate - it's absolutely crazy."
Paul Sandham, the Robinsons' neighbour, said he too had had a couple of near misses when he had been pulling out of the estate into the road.
"You get vehicles overtaking on bends where there's no sign and and no double white lines. When you want to turn right into Rosewoods there's always a back-up of traffic, which is clearly dangerous."
As a last throw of the dice, Rosewoods residents have now set up a committee to communicate with the Highways Department.
"What happened on Friday was terrible and it won't be the last," said Mr Sandham. "We always said something like this was going to happen sooner or later."
A spokesman for the East Riding Council said a number of criteria had to be met before the authorities could consider traffic-calming measures on local roads.
He added: "If people are concerned and they are calling for measures, the evidence has to be assessed and that involves using criteria that have to be approved by the Department for Transport (DfT). We have to take into account the number of accidents and their severity."
The spokesman said that over the years the number of accidents on the A614 had generally declined. He added, however, that speed had been an issue and various speed-reduction measures had been put in place at various points.
Safety camera routes had also been introduced along the road to stop accidents caused by speeding motorists.
Since then there had been no major accidents involving serious injuries or fatalities, said the spokesman.
Published on 19th June 2008 in News.
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