A18 / A1101 Britain's Killer Roads


A18 / A1101

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Last year, almost 1,900 people were killed on Britain's roads.

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It was just like the end of your world.

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And it's not always the motorist that's to blame.

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She would have been alive if there had been barriers there.

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Today, we expose these killer roads

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and ask if enough's being done to prevent more needless deaths.

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To stop any other mum or dad

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walk into a hospital and having to identify the son

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The beautiful Lincolnshire countryside

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with views from here stretching all the way to the Humber estuary.

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But just step over here for a moment and we have the A18.

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It's a scenic, rural, single carriageway. So what,

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you might think. How is this road any different from any other? Well, the truth is,

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it's been cited as one of the most high-risk roads in Britain.

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Set in the North East of England, the A18 winds its way

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through the South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire countrysides.

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The focus of our attention is a stretch that runs for nearly

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ten miles between the junction with the A46 at Laceby

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and the A16 junction, just south of Ludborough.

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It's a single-carriageway road that a recent report

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ranked as one of the highest risk roads in the whole of the UK.

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Between 2005 and 2009, this ten-mile stretch of the A18,

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known locally as Barton Street,

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saw 67 accidents resulting in injury,

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including 31 serious injuries and four deaths.

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Adam Nurse was on his way home from work

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after stopping to see his grandparents in September 2008

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when he lost control of his car on a bend and hit a tree,

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killing him instantly.

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My son, Adam, he was 18 years old.

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He'd just found out that he was going to be a father.

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He was just starting out in the world, and unfortunately,

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he never got the chance to go any further.

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The weather had turned to rain,

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it had started to rain quite heavily.

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He was returning home, came round a corner on the road,

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his car tyre caught the white line and caused the car to go into a spin.

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He then tried to correct it but he was on the grass by that point

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and the car was dragged into a tree,

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and he was killed instantly on the impact with the tree.

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This ten-mile stretch of the A18 has a notorious and deadly reputation.

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Since 2005, there have been four deaths on the road

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and one man who knows it better than most is local reporter, Peter Craig.

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Whenever word comes to the newsroom

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that there's been a collision

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on the A18, there's always a sense of trepidation because you know

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that you're going to be assigned to a collision where somebody could potentially have been killed,

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or at least very seriously injured.

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There are some people who avoid it because of its track record

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for collisions and because it's such a fast road,

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we've been to many crashes over the years,

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sadly, and there's a serious toll.

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Four deaths and 31 serious injuries on this road in just

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five years might not sound dramatically alarming

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but compare it to the national averages and the reality becomes clear.

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This ten-mile stretch of road is three times more dangerous

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to travel on than other comparable roads.

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The European Road Assessment Programme,

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a not-for-profit organisation,

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annually collates the number of deaths and serious injuries

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on nearly 3,000 sections

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of UK road and grades each section according to its level of risk.

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And this bit of the A18 is one of the most dangerous for road users

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anywhere in Britain.

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So, I set out to see this stretch of the A18 for myself.

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Here we are, the road to Boston and Skegness, the A18.

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And I suppose it's a little bit strange,

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suddenly driving on this road.

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I heard quite a lot about it,

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enough to make you a little bit apprehensive

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about this journey, so let's see how it feels actually driving it.

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Well, the first thing you notice is a lot of traffic,

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the first three things to pass - oh, very clos -

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are these big articulated lorries going past.

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Lots of them on the road. And it's narrow.

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That tanker, when it came, was right on the central white line,

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very close to the car.

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It's slightly intimidating, actually.

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And here, there is a crash barrier of sorts.

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There's a tree right on the road's edge

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so they've obviously almost fenced that in with a barrier, the sort of

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thing you'd see on a motorway, but I think that's the only one I've seen.

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There might be a few more around but certainly not many on this stretch of road.

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The road seems to have been a little bit patched up here and there

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so right now it's quite a basic stretch of road but mostly,

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it's as I'm seeing at the moment,

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slightly worn road, some faded markings,

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a soft verge, almost encroaching onto the road here.

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A few potholes as well.

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You're probably not seeing this very well because there's a bit of water on the road.

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The truck in front is throwing up all kinds of spray so the cameras

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we've got on the car are probably covered in water but this tanker in front,

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he's big and every time he goes round the corner - there it is again -

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his back wheel just comes and seems to almost hang off the edge of the road.

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It's a really narrow stretch for him, even when he's on the straight,

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he barely fits onto his side of the road.

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Wow, look at this guy. He's steaming along. Spray everywhere.

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And that's the size of some of the trucks that come along here.

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They're really big, actually and they're very, very regular.

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See, when the sun comes out and there isn't much traffic,

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this is a charming English country road.

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Of course, when you're actually driving it,

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you can understand why this is a high-risk road.

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Not very good sight lines,

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lots of bends, lots of ups and downs and just so much traffic coming at you,

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some of it absolutely huge - these heavy goods lorries are really

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bearing down on you and quite intimidating.

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65% of all fatal and serious crashes in the UK occur

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on single carriageway roads compared to just 11% on dual carriageways.

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Well, Nigel, it's hard to miss the flowers on the tree.

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Yeah. It's the spot where the accident obviously happened.

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Have you been back much to this site?

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Do you remember Adam here, or do you try to block it out?

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Adam was such a lively kid, no, you can't remember Adam sort of here.

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Yeah, this is where it's happened and I have come back to it once or twice

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but this is a place of sadness, where it happened,

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and I'd rather remember him for the fun that he had with his life, and so, no,

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I don't have any sort of feeling about this place.

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Do you think Adam was driving recklessly that day?

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I mean, what do you think? What did the police think?

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Well, at the inquest they said that he was doing 50 mph which,

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on this road, is below the legal speed limit

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but it was just with the conditions and everything like that,

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that well, it just caused it to happen.

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It was an accident that happened, but it was an accident that happened on a really bad road,

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a dangerous road, that's killed other people and seen other accidents on it.

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You often hear people saying roads don't kill anyone,

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it's dangerous drivers, but actually,

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-you know from personal experience that's not always the case.

-Yeah, it is.

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I mean, if it hadn't been for the road surface and things like that, the accident wouldn't have happened.

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He wasn't driving like a maniac, he was only driving a Vauxhall Astra.

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It was just a bog-standard car.

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It was not a performance car or anything like that.

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The road conditions and the weather played the big part.

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If the road had been in better state of repair, and maybe some barriers

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round the trees and things like that, the accident wouldn't have happened.

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There's always accidents on this road and there always has been.

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And until it's actually changed and altered, they'll continue,

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they'll never ever stop.

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Nigel believes his son would be alive today if the road had been

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in better condition and barriers had been in place,

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but to get a more objective assessment of the road,

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we've invited John Dawson, a road engineer,

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with over 35 years' experience of British roads, to take a look.

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As a former chief engineer of Scottish roads, and Chair of

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the European Road Assessment Programme, John is ideally placed to comment.

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So the road surface is distinctly falling off in quality

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on this section.

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It's narrow, again, for no obvious reason,

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and there's a large truck reminding us this is a commercial route,

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and we're mixing with cyclists.

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What on earth is going on in the middle of this road here?

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What are these markings? Don't know. Patchy road surface.

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Unprotected sign posts. Unprotected lamp posts. Unprotected sign posts.

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Unprotected lamp posts. There are a lot of basic safety features missing.

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Sometimes you can see the road markings are completely worn away.

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Now the road surface is deteriorating very sharply.

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Some safety fence on the left.

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It's interesting looking at this road, it's not quite obvious why

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safety fencing should be there and not along the whole length, probably

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in reaction to sometime, somebody has come off and been seriously hurt.

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I get the sense this is not a road that was ever

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conceived for commercial use.

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We're looking at quite significant heavy,

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heavy commercial vehicles and I just get the sense that this is

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a road which is not really fit for purpose.

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One mistake and you're dead, and this is not like dropping a plate

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while you're washing up.

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This mistake can kill you.

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Like Adam's father, John Dawson is concerned by...

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The figures show that the A18 is 25 times more dangerous than the average

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UK motorway, and for every death and serious injury, there's other

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near misses that could so easily have ended in tragedy, a point illustrated

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by an HGV accident we came across while meeting a local police officer.

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Well, we've got a single vehicle road traffic collision involving a heavy goods vehicle.

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What I would imagine's happened on this particular occasion is

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the lorry has gone to the nearside of the carriageway

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and as a result of being drawn to the nearside of the carriageway,

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has actually gone onto the grass verge.

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If you can see the difference in levels, quite clear to see,

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that even at this point from the tarmac, the hard tarmac, you've then

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got a drop of what, maybe a couple of inches at this particular point?

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And a little bit further up the road may be greater than that.

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So the vehicle, 44 ton, has gone from a hard surface onto a soft surface,

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maybe wet through overnight rain, it might be soft and damp anyway,

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and the weight of the lorry is actually pressing the ground down to

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a point where you can see the further it goes, the deeper it actually gets.

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It was travelling at 40 mph. It moved across to the nearside.

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It's dropped onto the grass verge, the verge is soft,

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the weight of the lorry,

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and we've also got a ditch which leads down into the field opposite.

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There was only one occupant in this lorry this morning.

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It was a male driver.

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He was taken to hospital with minor injuries at Grimsby and I think he's

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since been released, so very fortunate.

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Ironic really, not 12 months ago did I go to a similar road traffic

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collision and literally 30, 40 metres further up the road

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where the lorry driver's done exactly the same except

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he's oversteered, managed to oversteer,

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and pulled his heavy goods vehicle across to the other side of the road.

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It's evident that driving on this stretch of the A18 is a real challenge.

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The slightest mistake and vehicles are likely to leave the road.

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We'll pick up more about the A18 later

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'when I speak to the contractor responsible for the road safety.'

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-Lots of people are failing to cope. That's not their problem, it's the road.

-It is their problem

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cos when we pass a driving test, we're given a licence to be safe and we've got to be safe all the time.

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Throughout Britain, there are many carriageways with ongoing,

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serious problems, but change is possible.

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Many killer roads have turned themselves around.

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High-risk routes that have been improved with dramatic results.

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Winding its way through Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, is the A1101,

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a single carriageway A-road that on the surface looks no different

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to most other rural A-routes, but until last year,

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a section of this road had residents up in arms and demanding action

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If we hadn't mounted such a strong campaign and put

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so much into it, I don't think anybody would have done anything.

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Quite clearly, this is something very serious

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and the council have to listen to us.

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Since the changes have been made on this road,

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there has not been one accident.

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Just north of the Cambridgeshire town of Wisbech

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is a stretch of the A1101 known as the Gypsy Bends.

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Over five years, there were 22 accidents resulting in injury,

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including 11 serious injuries and seven deaths,

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on just 850 metres of road.

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For local couple, Fred and Josie McGrath,

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the dangers of Gypsy Bends were very clear to see.

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For over 20 years, they lived in the only house on the Bends.

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When we moved in, we had no idea that the road was dangerous

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but we could see out into the road from the window.

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And then came the day when the very first accident occurs,

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that we were aware of,

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and we didn't realise that it was going to be a pattern.

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You'd hear the bang.

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I'd lift the phone and Fred would run across the lawn.

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And I was phoning the emergency services and walking out

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towards him so that I could get more information to give them.

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In the winter months, I would be very much surprised

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if I didn't go out there once a week.

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I was always the first person on the scene.

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After some of the worst ones, Fred would have nightmares.

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He would be thrashing about and talking in his sleep

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and obviously was reliving it, I guess.

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I can remember one of them saying, "If we get a call

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"for this part of the A1101,

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"we know where to come", because they've been there before.

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It was clear to Fred and Josie

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that the drivers were often not to blame for these accidents.

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The road was playing a major role.

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So there was something seriously wrong with the bend,

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but there was also something seriously wrong with the speed

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people were allowed to hit the bend.

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That was 60 mph,

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and maybe people who were driving even faster than that.

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Of course. Yeah. People were driving fast than that, very often.

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Yeah. And there was numerous accidents

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where there were head-on collisions because people

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were overtaking on the bend as well.

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They were no experts

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but they knew there were four things wrong with the road.

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..increasing the risk of drivers ending up in the ditches.

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Over the years,

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Josie contacted the council numerous times pleading for change.

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First of all, I'd just make a phone

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call and speak to somebody who would be responsible for...

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-Highways.

-Highways, yeah.

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And the answer was always the same. "No. It's not bad enough."

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Then I started sending e-mails with pictures attached,

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and I didn't even get an answer, not even one answer.

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The accidents continued to happen, and in November 2007,

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Fred and Josie were confronted with yet another awful scene.

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"Fred, there's been two lorries hit each other outside,

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"I can hear it." So, he went out to see these two lorries

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but it wasn't two lorries.

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It was, in fact,

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a car that had crashed into the dyke in front of the house,

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flipped into the air and landed on its roof

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on Fred and Josie's driveway.

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The driver was conscious.

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The person behind the driver was conscious, but was hurting badly.

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The car on the opposite side was crushed.

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It obviously flipped...

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..in the air and come crashing down.

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There were two fatalities.

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Just seven months later, there was another death on Gypsy Bends.

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Roy and Sue Ashton were on their way home when they collided head-on with

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a car travelling in the opposite direction which had been overtaking.

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Sue was killed instantly, and Roy was seriously injured.

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In the aftermath, Roy requested all the accident data for Gypsy Bends

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and asked friends, Michael and Virginia Buckner, if they'd help.

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It was then Roy Ashton who got the statistics from the council

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in 64 almost unusable pages of data

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and said to us, "Can you collate these

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"into something more meaningful?" because he needed to understand

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'So Michael and I sat down after Roy had given it to us

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'and we sat down together and said, well,

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'let's try and make some sort of meaning out of'

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where the accidents had happened,

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highlighting it on a map exactly where it was

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and then it showed dot after dot after dot in a clear cluster.

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It showed you that the rest of the road was not the problem,

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that there was something not quite right at Gypsy Bends.

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Armed with the council's own data and certain it proved

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something needed to be done, the group set about presenting it.

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We put a note on the paper to say

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we would be in Wisbech Market Place, at a particular time,

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if people would like to sign our petition that was required

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just to speak for three minutes to the council on this technical issue.

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The first council meeting that we went to, and we were explaining

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with our three minutes, that the road had bends, and there was a councillor

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sitting there saying, "It's straight, I can see it's a straight road."

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They wouldn't have it that there were bends there.

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It was just ludicrous that there was a man sitting there

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saying it's a straight road.

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Whether it's straight or bendy, people were dying on it.

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The campaigners felt they'd clearly presented the problems

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with Gypsy Bends, but were frustrated as they became

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bogged down in what they saw as unnecessary bureaucracy.

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We had so many meetings and yet there really wasn't anything

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positive getting done. So, we'd now passed a year,

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there'd been another death on the road, there'd been at least

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three or four more serious accidents

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and still we couldn't see anything positive.

0:19:400:19:43

Beset by red tape,

0:19:430:19:45

the Gypsy Bends Campaign appeared to have ground to a halt.

0:19:450:19:49

But after 22 accidents resulting in injury, and seven deaths

0:19:490:19:52

in five years on just 850 metres of road,

0:19:520:19:56

the campaigners weren't about to give up.

0:19:560:19:59

The campaign now was really up and running.

0:19:590:20:01

We had this core team of Josie and Fred, Michael and I, and Roy,

0:20:010:20:06

saying we are not going to let this go, quite clearly this is

0:20:060:20:11

something very serious and the council have to listen to us.

0:20:110:20:15

Somehow, they have to listen to us. We're doing a lot of talking,

0:20:150:20:19

we're doing presentations to them, we had to do anther presentation

0:20:190:20:23

to the county council and do 50 more signatures for the county councillors

0:20:230:20:28

to listen to, and yet there was still nothing being done.

0:20:280:20:32

People always want immediate action.

0:20:320:20:34

Sometimes, if you rush into these things,

0:20:340:20:37

you don't come up with the right solution and sometimes it does

0:20:370:20:40

take a bit of time to actually analyse what's necessary

0:20:400:20:43

and introduce the right interventions

0:20:430:20:45

to address those accidents.

0:20:450:20:47

Often, when you've got engineering involved,

0:20:470:20:49

it takes time to prepare this, you have to do the design,

0:20:490:20:52

you have to mobilise the resources to do it,

0:20:520:20:54

and of course, we don't just turn up on the day and carry out the works.

0:20:540:20:58

There's a bit of planning goes into when the works are carried out,

0:20:580:21:01

and sometimes that can take a bit of time.

0:21:010:21:03

That's often frustrating for local communities.

0:21:030:21:05

Frustrated by the apparent lack of action, the campaigners

0:21:090:21:12

started to press their demands for improvements through the media.

0:21:120:21:15

People living close to one of the region's worst accident black spots

0:21:150:21:19

are calling for urgent road safety improvements.

0:21:190:21:22

In just six months,

0:21:220:21:24

five people have lost their lives on the A1101 near Wisbech.

0:21:240:21:27

I think it was the July or August, TWO years later...

0:21:270:21:31

..that we were on the Jeremy Vine show.

0:21:320:21:35

Good afternoon. The Jeremy Vine Show on Radio Two.

0:21:350:21:38

You are most welcome.

0:21:380:21:40

I'm joined now live from our Peterborough studio

0:21:400:21:43

by Josie McClinton and Fred McGrath,

0:21:430:21:45

who live on Cambridgeshire's most notorious black spot.

0:21:450:21:49

That is the A1101 between Wisbech town and the A17.

0:21:490:21:54

And they called the county council

0:21:540:21:57

because they needed to have feedback from the county council

0:21:570:22:00

and the county council said, "Yes, we're very aware of it.

0:22:000:22:05

"We're going to spend 350,000 on it."

0:22:050:22:08

This is August or September.

0:22:080:22:10

And they rang us back and said, "Look, you've got it wrong,

0:22:100:22:14

"the council ARE going to do something"

0:22:140:22:16

and I said, "Well, I've just been speaking

0:22:160:22:19

"to Head of Highways half an hour ago and I wasn't aware of it then.

0:22:190:22:23

"So, this is wonderful news."

0:22:230:22:25

Wonderful news that they're now going to do something.

0:22:250:22:27

The measures we've introduced at Gypsy Bends involve

0:22:270:22:31

various aspects of engineering.

0:22:310:22:34

We've improved the signing and lining -

0:22:340:22:36

some of the basics that you would expect

0:22:360:22:38

at some of our accident sites.

0:22:380:22:41

As an initial measure, we undertook some treatment

0:22:410:22:44

of the surface of the road to make sure it was clean

0:22:440:22:46

to take out all the grit and grime

0:22:460:22:48

that gets in the texture of the road

0:22:480:22:50

and that bought us a bit of time in terms of

0:22:500:22:52

improving the surface of the road.

0:22:520:22:55

We also trimmed back vegetation to open up visibility.

0:22:550:22:58

I suppose the biggest element of work was the engineering work

0:22:580:23:02

to reshape the profile of the road and to widen it

0:23:020:23:05

and that allowed us then to introduce

0:23:050:23:08

the double-white-line system to address the overtaking concerns.

0:23:080:23:12

There are still drivers that drive recklessly

0:23:120:23:15

and they will cause accidents, but the point is, it won't be now

0:23:150:23:20

because the road isn't fit for use.

0:23:200:23:23

As far as we were concerned, it wasn't fit for purpose,

0:23:230:23:26

and people shouldn't have been just driving down that road,

0:23:260:23:29

on that road, at the speeds that they were able to drive down there.

0:23:290:23:32

Since the changes have been made on this road,

0:23:320:23:38

there has not been one accident.

0:23:380:23:40

The data and the repairs to it proves that it isn't just

0:23:400:23:45

the drivers, because since the work was done in September,

0:23:450:23:49

there has been not one accident and before, every year,

0:23:490:23:54

there was a death and many accidents over many years,

0:23:540:23:57

so it proves that it wasn't just down to driver error,

0:23:570:24:03

it was to do with the road, and the road

0:24:030:24:06

needed to have these works done on them.

0:24:060:24:11

I think they've done a very, very good job.

0:24:110:24:16

It's a professional job now.

0:24:160:24:17

It's a job where we know that it's working, and we are happy with it

0:24:170:24:22

and, to be honest with you, if this was done, if people had realised it,

0:24:220:24:27

if that little bit of money -

0:24:270:24:29

cos it's not a lot of money in the real scheme of things -

0:24:290:24:32

if that had been done five years ago,

0:24:320:24:35

there would have been a lot of people still here today.

0:24:350:24:40

Nigel Nurse's 18-year-old son, Adam,

0:24:400:24:43

was killed when he lost control of his car

0:24:430:24:46

and hit a tree on a notorious stretch of the A18 in Lincolnshire.

0:24:460:24:49

Nigel is certain that the road was to blame.

0:24:490:24:52

We have lots of roads round here, but none of them have

0:24:520:24:56

the stigma and the sort of notoriety that that road does.

0:24:560:25:01

Is that because everyone that drives on it is bad? Well, no.

0:25:010:25:04

It's cos the road's bad and it's been known to be bad,

0:25:040:25:07

certainly 40 years that I've been sort of knowledgeable about it.

0:25:070:25:13

The key concerns about this road are its narrowness,

0:25:130:25:16

the lack of verges, a poor road surface and a shortage of barriers.

0:25:160:25:22

Responsibility for the safety of most of this road lies with

0:25:220:25:26

North East Lincolnshire Council, who sub-contract the role out.

0:25:260:25:30

Some work has happened along the stretch,

0:25:300:25:32

as the contractors highlight.

0:25:320:25:34

What we've done with the whole route is

0:25:340:25:36

look at a series of measures that spread along it.

0:25:360:25:39

That's looking at the edge markings to highlight where the road is -

0:25:390:25:43

but more importantly, where it isn't. The centre lines, and as part of

0:25:430:25:48

that centre line, we've improved the roadsters, the cats' eyes.

0:25:480:25:52

It's far more visible at night-time and in adverse weather.

0:25:520:25:55

We've looked at the road signs.

0:25:550:25:58

The signing and marking is, if you look at it again,

0:25:580:26:00

typically British.

0:26:000:26:02

It's a curate's egg. It's good in parts.

0:26:020:26:04

And then a little further on, the road condition just deteriorates

0:26:040:26:08

into sort of the condition you see in the former Soviet Union.

0:26:080:26:12

There's nothing to tell you that that road is as bad as it is.

0:26:120:26:15

It just looks like a normal road.

0:26:150:26:17

There's no warnings of the hidden depths.

0:26:170:26:20

There's no warning that there's no sort of kerb,

0:26:200:26:23

that it's just soft ground on the side of it.

0:26:230:26:26

They haven't done anything to actually make people aware

0:26:260:26:29

that it's a bad road.

0:26:290:26:31

The contractors are keen to point out that they do

0:26:310:26:33

carefully study any data they receive about the road.

0:26:330:26:36

What we will do when we're looking at road traffic collisions,

0:26:360:26:40

we refer, always, back to the police records.

0:26:400:26:43

We know from that, just about got everybody that's been injured

0:26:430:26:47

on our roads and then we can identify where we've got

0:26:470:26:50

clusters at certain sites,

0:26:500:26:52

problems along the route, or problems within an area.

0:26:520:26:55

And then we can target the investigation towards that.

0:26:550:26:59

From that, we will then promote a road safety scheme

0:26:590:27:01

and from that, we have works on site.

0:27:010:27:03

The contractors' approach appears to rely on them reacting to accidents,

0:27:030:27:08

waiting to see where problems are before they take action.

0:27:080:27:11

The corner where Adam Nurse died was only resurfaced

0:27:110:27:14

after he'd been killed, raising questions as to whether

0:27:140:27:17

improvements would have happened if the accident hadn't occurred.

0:27:170:27:20

I know that they have done some improvements to the road

0:27:210:27:25

but it's insignificant what they're doing, because it's the whole road

0:27:250:27:30

that's the problem, not just little tiny bits.

0:27:300:27:33

You can't just sort of say, "Right,

0:27:330:27:36

"there was an accident there, so, we'll sort that little bit out,"

0:27:360:27:39

because the whole road is an accident waiting to happen.

0:27:390:27:43

And road safety campaigners believe that councils

0:27:430:27:46

and contractors shouldn't wait for accidents to happen

0:27:460:27:49

but rather, take a different approach.

0:27:490:27:51

The recommended treatment from the Professional Institutions

0:27:510:27:55

for Road Engineers is a very proactive look at roads,

0:27:550:27:59

systematically seeking to eliminate known high risks.

0:27:590:28:05

There's a temptation to focus just on the crashes that have occurred

0:28:050:28:10

most recently.

0:28:100:28:11

For example, if you put safety fences at every high-risk spot,

0:28:110:28:15

you will stop dozens of crashes over a 10- or 20-year period.

0:28:150:28:20

If you just put a little length of safety fence as we saw on the video,

0:28:200:28:24

where there happened to be a crash some time ago,

0:28:240:28:28

then you just do not act at the scale

0:28:280:28:31

that is proportionate to the problem.

0:28:310:28:34

Dave Poucher points out that drivers also have a responsibility.

0:28:340:28:38

The view we've taken is, we shouldn't dictate what drivers do.

0:28:380:28:42

They are responsible. They should be able to drive

0:28:420:28:45

if they've got all the correct information.

0:28:450:28:47

It's up to the driver to say, "That's the information I've got,

0:28:470:28:51

"do I want to follow that advice?" Responsible drivers will.

0:28:510:28:54

That's just passing the buck.

0:28:540:28:56

That's just turning round and saying that it's the fault of the drivers.

0:28:560:29:00

Well, it takes two to tango.

0:29:000:29:02

If you've got a good road then you're not going to have...

0:29:020:29:05

Even if you've got drivers that make a mistake,

0:29:050:29:08

it's going to be a bit more forgiven.

0:29:080:29:10

You can't make a mistake on that road

0:29:100:29:12

because there is no forgiveness.

0:29:120:29:14

Now, when assessing how safe a road is.

0:29:180:29:20

Experts look at all sorts of things, from how junctions are laid out

0:29:200:29:23

to whether there's enough appropriate signage.

0:29:230:29:26

Another thing they look closely at is the road surface itself.

0:29:260:29:30

A poor road surface can dramatically increase the risk to users.

0:29:300:29:34

Now, I've come here to a car testing facility in the Midlands.

0:29:340:29:37

-Got Richard here. Hello, Richard.

-Hi, there.

0:29:370:29:40

We're going to do a load of tests, aren't we, on the road surface

0:29:400:29:43

and weather conditions to see what difference it makes

0:29:430:29:46

to road handling and stopping distances and that kind of stuff?

0:29:460:29:49

So, we're going to start dry. We have a very experienced driver.

0:29:490:29:52

Who's that over that?

0:29:520:29:54

-Pete Randall is one of our senior driving instructors.

-Great.

0:29:540:29:57

What speed will he be going at? How do we keep this

0:29:570:30:00

-scientifically accurate?

-We try and keep many things the same

0:30:000:30:03

and just change the grip that the tyre sees.

0:30:030:30:06

In this scenario, Pete'll come along at about 50 mph,

0:30:060:30:08

a steady speed, and will apply the brakes hard, full ABS,

0:30:080:30:11

keep his foot on the brake,

0:30:110:30:13

and he'll come to a stop shortly after the cones.

0:30:130:30:15

We're going to measure his stopping distance.

0:30:150:30:18

And the hard ABS thing, how important is that?

0:30:180:30:21

People often back off when they feel a bit of ABS kicking in.

0:30:210:30:24

You still need to apply the brakes.

0:30:240:30:26

All the ABS does is let them off temporarily.

0:30:260:30:28

-So, you need to keep pushing that pedal.

-OK. And he knows that.

0:30:280:30:31

-He's a top guy, right.

-Absolutely.

-Very good.

0:30:310:30:34

-And this, this seems like pretty typical asphalt.

-Yeah.

0:30:340:30:38

There's different types of asphalt, but this is a fairly regular surface.

0:30:380:30:42

-OK. And it's dry?

-Yeah. At the minute.

0:30:420:30:44

The sun is intermittently shining. Shall we give it a go?

0:30:440:30:47

-Shall we radio Pete?

-OK, Pete. Off you go.

0:30:470:30:51

Up to 50 mph.

0:30:540:30:57

Very good. Right.

0:31:020:31:05

-You're the man with the wheel. Do your measuring.

-OK.

0:31:050:31:07

'Over 95% of UK roads are made of asphalt

0:31:070:31:11

'so you'd think they should all be pretty similar in terms of grip.

0:31:110:31:15

'Well, the reality is that roads in the UK can vary dramatically

0:31:150:31:19

'and the type of asphalt used can make a significant difference.

0:31:190:31:24

'This road material is known as medium temperature

0:31:240:31:27

'and is considered to have a good standard of grip.'

0:31:270:31:30

-16.5 metres.

-Brilliant. Thank you.

0:31:300:31:34

'Now to see how the same road reacts in wet conditions.'

0:31:340:31:38

Now, have a look at this. This is why this place is so special.

0:31:380:31:42

Never have you seen so many sprinklers and so little grass.

0:31:420:31:45

Here we have several lanes of different materials

0:31:450:31:48

to replicate different road surfaces and different weather conditions.

0:31:480:31:51

They're all wet at the moment,

0:31:510:31:53

so we're going to put the car through here and see what happens.

0:31:530:31:56

So, Richard, we're in the wet now, the best watered asphalt in the Midlands.

0:31:570:32:01

Which surface are we on?

0:32:010:32:03

-This is the medium temperature asphalt.

-OK.

0:32:030:32:05

So, same procedure as before.

0:32:050:32:07

Pete'll come along at 50 mph, apply the brakes fully at the cones

0:32:070:32:10

-and then we'll see where he stops.

-And this is a recognised asphalt that could be used

0:32:100:32:14

again on our roads, so just seeing what happens when it's wet.

0:32:140:32:17

It's one of the many standard asphalts that we find on UK roads.

0:32:170:32:21

-Summon the driver, if you will.

-OK. OK, Pete.

0:32:210:32:26

-And the cone down is the dry breaking distance from last time.

-That's right, yeah.

-OK.

0:32:260:32:30

Let's see what a difference the water will make.

0:32:300:32:35

-Not as much as I thought, actually. So that's basically one car length...

-Just about.

0:32:350:32:40

..over what he did in the dry. That's impressive.

0:32:400:32:43

I thought it was going to be double that.

0:32:430:32:45

Tyre technology's come a long way. 18.5 metres.

0:32:450:32:48

Brilliant. Thanks.

0:32:480:32:51

'Developments in road materials mean the difference in stopping distances

0:32:540:32:57

'between wet and dry on the same road differ only slightly

0:32:570:33:02

'but what difference does it make if you're stopping on other road types, also used in the UK?'

0:33:020:33:07

OK, Pete. Ready to go on the smooth asphalt.

0:33:070:33:10

'This material is known as stone mastic asphalt

0:33:100:33:14

'and for the last decade has been used widely in the UK

0:33:140:33:17

'because of its durability, reduced traffic noise and cost effectiveness.'

0:33:170:33:22

OK. So, Pete's off. It's smooth asphalt, so it's slightly different, this one?

0:33:220:33:26

Yeah. That's right. It's a little bit quieter but doesn't offer as much grip.

0:33:260:33:31

-Ah. And we're still in the wet.

-Yeah.

-So here he comes.

0:33:310:33:36

-Wow.

-There you go.

-It really DOESN'T offer so much grip.

0:33:360:33:39

He's gone right past the cone there. That's the dry cone.

0:33:390:33:42

-Yeah.

-Before, it was about a car length different.

0:33:420:33:45

-Now it's...

-Probably ten metres.

-Yeah. Yeah.

0:33:450:33:48

So that is two different types of asphalt.

0:33:480:33:51

There can be a significant difference when it's wet, certainly.

0:33:510:33:54

-Absolutely.

-I'm intrigued.

0:33:540:33:56

All right, well, we should get the official measurement again.

0:33:560:33:59

-I'll let you do that.

-OK.

-Thank you very much.

0:33:590:34:02

'There's a marked difference in stopping distances

0:34:020:34:04

'between the two roads, and recent studies of stone mastic asphalt

0:34:040:34:08

'have also revealed that when this is first laid,

0:34:080:34:11

'rather than having a maximum grip as you'd expect, they are,

0:34:110:34:14

'in fact, as much as 30-40% less effective until they've worn in.'

0:34:140:34:20

-27 metres.

-OK.

0:34:200:34:23

Right. Very good. Now, I found that really interesting

0:34:250:34:28

because we got a bigger difference between different types of asphalt

0:34:280:34:31

in the wet than we did between wet and dry when we tested it.

0:34:310:34:34

Now, we're going crazy, we're chucking in some weather.

0:34:340:34:38

Over on the basalt tiles there, we emulate ice, wet ice.

0:34:380:34:41

And we'll see what a difference that makes to stopping differences.

0:34:410:34:44

So obviously no-one in their right mind is going to be

0:34:440:34:47

-doing 50 mph on wet ice, you'd hope, wouldn't you?

-Not intentionally, anyway.

-Not intentionally.

0:34:470:34:52

Very good. Right, well, let's radio the man himself, and see what happens.

0:34:520:34:57

OK, Pete. If you could start your run. Over.

0:34:570:34:59

He'll just get wheel spin

0:34:590:35:01

if he tries to accelerate too strongly on the basalt.

0:35:010:35:04

THEY LAUGH

0:35:130:35:18

Just... That's brilliant.

0:35:180:35:21

'The basalt tiles are similar to the standard floor tiles you might

0:35:230:35:27

'have in your home, but add water to them and the surface mimics ice.'

0:35:270:35:33

So, middle of the front wheel is there. 155.5 metres.

0:35:330:35:40

That is absolutely staggering.

0:35:410:35:43

Well, he nearly went off the edge of the course. That's amazing.

0:35:430:35:47

Just shows how careful you have to be in icy conditions.

0:35:470:35:51

Well, it has been a really interesting experience.

0:35:510:35:54

It's obvious that adverse weather conditions - snow, ice, make a difference to roads

0:35:540:35:58

and how you should drive on them, but what's really stood out

0:35:580:36:01

for me today, were the two types of asphalt we tried in the wet.

0:36:010:36:04

one of them took this car 8.5 metres more to stop than the other.

0:36:040:36:11

That's a huge difference.

0:36:110:36:13

And in the UK today, there is no one standard of road surfacing,

0:36:130:36:17

so we don't actually know which we're driving upon and clearly,

0:36:170:36:21

the different types of massive implications for road safety.

0:36:210:36:26

No parent should outlive their child.

0:36:410:36:44

It's wrong, you know, kind of in a way you know that your parents

0:36:440:36:49

and people like that will go before you

0:36:490:36:52

but you never expect it to be your child that goes before you.

0:36:520:36:56

It's just wrong and, I don't know, I just...feel bad.

0:36:560:37:01

You have good days and you have bad days

0:37:010:37:04

and on the bad days you feel really low and...it hurts like hell.

0:37:040:37:09

I felt guilty for being alive. It should have been me, not him.

0:37:110:37:15

He was just starting his life and that's how you feel.

0:37:150:37:20

He was a good kid, just a real good kid.

0:37:200:37:23

It's just to stop any other mum or dad walking into a hospital

0:37:280:37:32

and having to identify their son, or daughter,

0:37:320:37:36

cos I know what it's like, and it's the worst thing on this planet.

0:37:360:37:41

Adam was one of four people to be killed

0:37:470:37:50

on this stretch of the A18 in just five years.

0:37:500:37:54

Nigel feels the road let his son down, and there are road safety experts who agree.

0:37:540:37:59

If I was going to make improvements to this road

0:37:590:38:01

starting tomorrow, I would start with the signing and marking.

0:38:010:38:06

It needs an overhaul.

0:38:060:38:09

The road surface condition needs an overhaul

0:38:090:38:11

but the more fundamental problem of this road is to make it more

0:38:110:38:15

forgiving and more self-explaining to drivers.

0:38:150:38:19

We have lots of roads around here, but none of them

0:38:190:38:22

have the stigma and the sort of notoriety that that road does.

0:38:220:38:28

Is that because everyone that drives on it is bad? No.

0:38:280:38:31

It's cos the road's bad and it's been known to be bad,

0:38:310:38:35

certainly 40 years that I've been sort of knowledgeable about it.

0:38:350:38:40

I went to see the contractors who oversee the road to ask them what's being done.

0:38:400:38:45

I suppose you get reckless drivers everywhere,

0:38:450:38:48

so discount them for a second, it's just that on this route

0:38:480:38:51

if you make a mistake it's very unforgiving, isn't it?

0:38:510:38:53

It's very narrow, there are verges, cars come off the side

0:38:530:38:57

-of the road, lorries come off the side of the road.

-That's what we've seen

0:38:570:39:00

and that's the basis of a lot of the work we've done is to ensure

0:39:000:39:03

the drivers are adequately informed of what the road is

0:39:030:39:07

and what's ahead of them, and hopefully they don't make that mistake.

0:39:070:39:10

But is that enough?

0:39:100:39:12

You sort of think, isn't there a way the road could be

0:39:120:39:14

fundamentally safer, so, if or when they do make that mistake, it doesn't end in a fatality?

0:39:140:39:19

But you can do that wherever, can't you? It appears to be working.

0:39:190:39:24

And that's all I can say with any truth at the moment.

0:39:240:39:28

It appears to be working. And that's something we will continue to monitor.

0:39:280:39:31

Are the council aware?

0:39:310:39:33

Are you saying to them, "Look, we've got to keep an eye on this, this is a big problem"?

0:39:330:39:38

That's part of what we do, part of the day-to-day job.

0:39:380:39:41

You know, we identify trends

0:39:410:39:44

and bring that to the appropriate quarters within the council.

0:39:440:39:49

And perhaps that's the problem. Currently, the approach to the A18 is a reactive one,

0:39:490:39:54

not targeting the whole route or pre-emptying accident blacks pots BEFORE they appear,

0:39:540:39:58

just as it didn't at the part of the road where Adam died.

0:39:580:40:03

If lots of people are failing to cope in this spot, that's not their problem, that's the road.

0:40:030:40:08

No. It is their problem because when we pass a driving test,

0:40:080:40:12

we're then given a licence to be safe on the road

0:40:120:40:14

and we've got to be safe all the time.

0:40:140:40:17

I reject that, cos there's always human error

0:40:170:40:19

and if you've got a bend where people are coming off,

0:40:190:40:22

you have to change the bend, because people will continue to come off and continue to make mistakes.

0:40:220:40:26

You're right. On our journeys, we won't see an accident every day.

0:40:260:40:30

We won't be involved in an accident every day.

0:40:300:40:33

-But you do know that they are happening.

-Yes.

0:40:330:40:36

But it doesn't mean that you have to react specifically to the site.

0:40:360:40:42

-But after a while you do, if there's enough.

-No.

0:40:420:40:44

You look at why things are happening and you try and break that causation factor.

0:40:440:40:48

And you're ruling out that it's ever the road at fault.

0:40:480:40:52

What I'm saying is, the road by itself is not dangerous.

0:40:520:40:55

You put drivers on it, and then it becomes dangerous.

0:40:550:40:59

The stretch of the A18 between Laceby and Ludborough

0:41:050:41:09

has a notorious reputation as an accident black spot, and rightly so,

0:41:090:41:13

with 31 serious injuries and four deaths in just five years.

0:41:130:41:18

Efforts have been made by the council

0:41:180:41:21

since 2009 to improve the route, but it's argued that these improvements

0:41:210:41:25

are purely reactive, insufficient, and don't address the whole stretch.

0:41:250:41:31

If it weren't raining that day, he probably wouldn't have died.

0:41:310:41:34

I suppose I can't control the weather and things like that

0:41:360:41:39

but when it comes to the road, then that's something that people

0:41:390:41:42

CAN control and do something about so, for me,

0:41:420:41:44

it was a needless death on a road that's clamed so many victims

0:41:440:41:51

and caused so much grief to so many people.

0:41:510:41:54

There's no get-out-of-jail-for-free card in this.

0:41:540:41:58

Road authorities, drivers, vehicle manufacturers have all got to

0:41:580:42:03

take their share of the responsibility.

0:42:030:42:06

Can't help thinking there's too much reliance here

0:42:060:42:09

on how drivers cope with the A18

0:42:090:42:11

and not enough focus on making the road, itself, safer.

0:42:110:42:15

I mean, yes, some work's been done.

0:42:150:42:17

Hopefully it will make the difference

0:42:170:42:19

but just maybe a different approach is needed if we're going to

0:42:190:42:23

stop others going through those horrors experienced by Nigel Nurse.

0:42:230:42:28

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