A27/ A6069 Britain's Killer Roads

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

It was just like the end of your world.

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

She would have been alive if there were barriers there.

Today, we expose these killer roads

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

Just to stop any other mum or dad

walk into an hospital and ask them to identify their son.

The glorious South Downs.

Over 600 square miles of National Park stretching from Winchester

to Eastbourne and just over there, nestled on the boundary of it, is the A27.

This stretch is a single carriageway A-road.

And it looks like a lovely way of taking in the country sights. The reality though is very different.

This road has a history of death and serious injury.

Set in the south of England and crossing three counties is the A27.

The 70-mile stretch of road is part dual and part single carriageway

and travels from Portsmouth to just beyond Eastbourne.

The part of the A27 we're focusing on is a short stretch

running from Firle to Selmeston in East Sussex.

Major improvement works have been done on a number of sections of the A27

with good results, but on the three-mile stretch we're looking at,

you're twice as likely to have a serious crash compared to the rest of the road.

From 2000 to 2010, there were 149 accidents resulting in injury,

including 28 serious injuries and 13 deaths.

That's why the local residents have unofficially named this stretch of road Death Mile.

Peter Martin-Adams had been returning home from work in October 2006,

when he lost control of his motorbike on the Selmeston Bends.

He clipped a car travelling in the other direction

and was thrown into the path of another, oncoming vehicle. He was killed instantly.

I have returned to the scene of Peter's accident with his brother, Tony.

Tell me about the evening of your brother's accident.

He was working in Eastbourne and was travelling

from the direction of the hill, coming straight down the '27, heading back to Brighton.

It was his normal route home.

On the day in question, he had been given a promotion at work and was delighted by that.

His right hand clipped a wing mirror of an oncoming Focus.

Dropped his motorbike. He continued sliding up the hill here.

And entered into the oncoming traffic lane.

Peter and his bike were struck head on by another car.

-Was he killed instantly?

-He was killed instantly.

Just over there you've got yellow flowers on the ground. That's where he came to rest.

The bike landed in front of the post here, in the bushes,

and my brother, at the time, was laying on top of the hedgerow,

because it was all cut and much lower than it is currently.

Traffic following from the Barley Mo back in towards Newhaven had an off-duty doctor,

who pronounced my brother dead at the scene.

He was a father. He was an uncle to many siblings. And, you know, it was the loss of a good brother.

Peter's death was just one of many to happen on this very short stretch.

Actor Desmond Llewelyn, famous for playing Q in the James Bond films, was killed on the road

when he was involved in a head-on collision in 1999.

Well, it feels like this stretch of road should come with a health warning,

but I really want to find out what people who live and work here think of it.

-Since we've been here there's been several accidents.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Whereabouts? On the bit outside your pub or on the corner?

-Erm...

Going down that way towards Firle.

Somebody hit a tree at Christmas and died. There's been several accidents since we've been here.

-What do you make of the road outside your shop?

-Very busy road.

Quite a few accidents. Quite often it's closed off.

-So suddenly no-one's coming in the shop cos the road's been closed off?

-That is correct.

They were planning to make a dual carriageway from Brighton up Polegate,

but that's all been shelved due to costs.

-And have you seen any accidents around here?

-Yeah.

I was in a car crash once just here.

-When I was like 13, coming back from school.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-A car crash just here?

-Yeah.

-What happened?

I was just in the car with my brother coming back from school.

And hit another car - pulled out here. Just had a little crash there.

-Wow! And was everyone OK?

-Yeah, everyone was fine, luckily.

It's clear that local residents are concerned by the road,

a fact echoed by Anne Howard, chair of the local Berwick Parish Council.

A lot of people think that it should be a dual carriageway, but there isn't the money for it

and, because it's at the foot of the South Downs,

it's quite contentious. The South Downs has just been made a National Park,

so there's issues to do with the visibility of a new dual carriageway and the amount of land

it would take for slip roads, etc.

After speaking to the local residents, it's clear that the A27 has a deadly reputation.

But to try and get a better understanding of why this road has claimed so many lives,

I'm going to drive this stretch for myself.

So here we are. We're coming into the dip and this S-bend from the Eastbourne side.

It's quite congested. There's a junction here. The traffic's very close together.

A petrol station, a pub, lots of cars trying to turn in, turn out. And now we go down the dip.

Lots of trees hanging over.

I can see to the bottom of the hill, but I can't see the corner beyond it.

As we come into the bend, I can't see the hill coming out of the dip.

And this is the longest stretch, by far.

They break it up in the middle here with some bollards and a filter lane.

There's a turning to the right AND the left.

And that keeps the two lines of traffic apart and stops anyone just trying to nip out here.

And very quickly you get tailbacks on this road.

People get frustrated. They've been used to doing faster speeds

further back in the west on the dual carriageway.

And there's nowhere on this road that really relieves that frustration,

that goes wider or let's people pass safely.

You just have to sit tight and be very patient.

'Having driven from Selmeston down to Firle and experienced the road one way,

'I've turned around to see what it's like travelling in the other direction.'

Now we've left the Firle Straights and we're going on towards the dip

where Tony's brother Peter very sadly lost his life.

First of all, the hedges are much closer to the edge of the road.

We've got a "reduce speed now" sign showing a bend's coming up. You don't see it till it's close.

It's sort of facing out into that field. It's not facing the oncoming traffic.

And I can't, now I'm in the bend, see up the hill.

These trees above us are just of hanging over. There's no direct sight line.

Now that I'd driven the road, it's easy to understand

why some people believe that a dual carriageway is the only option.

Every day, there are 3,000 more cars on this road than in 2001.

It seems clear that improvements

simply haven't been implemented as fast as traffic has increased.

But as the local MP and Under-Secretary for the Department of Transport explains,

a dual carriageway is not an option.

It's not a modern road so it's not easy to adapt it to modern standards.

So it wouldn't have been possible to simply dual the existing road.

You would have to have built a brand-new dual carriageway road further north or further south.

Probably north of the road. Leaving the existing road in place, carrying local traffic,

with land between the two roads effectively isolated.

That would be quite damaging to the local farming community,

as well as being very environmentally intrusive.

And a new dual carriageway would have cost well in excess of £100 million.

Probably double that in today's prices. You must ask, "What is the purpose of spending that money?"

We have to be pragmatic about this and tell those who hold out for a dual carriageway

it isn't happening. No party is placed to provide a dual carriageway.

If we'd waited for that, nothing would have been done.

But all is not lost on this part of the A27.

Some campaigners argue that simple improvements could enhance safety on this road dramatically.

Tony Costen believes there are easy, low-cost measures that could make this road much safer.

-What are the issues on this stretch of road?

-Visibility.

Visibility, awareness.

-So visibility? So some road signs are hidden and obscured by the bushes here?

-Absolutely.

Including the red one that says "reduce speed now".

-Yeah.

-That's facing the fields. Looks good to the sheep. Doesn't help the drivers.

I think you've got to change the layout of this road slightly.

If the road had better visibility, Peter may have been here today. Just by widening the road slightly.

You've got this grass verge here. It's a massive piece of land. Take it back, put a small path in,

so it gives the locals somewhere to walk as well, keeping the hedges down.

Put in a solar-panel light that says you're entering into a 40 zone.

Make it flash. You've got that in West Sussex, in Heathfield, which is just down the road here.

And what about the big, white signs that say there's been a number of casualties on this road

and a number of fatalities. That always makes people think.

It makes people slow down when they see the sign. His death was a pointless death.

To be fair, any death on the road is a needless death, isn't it?

Apart from the sheer volume of traffic using this road,

Tony and the local campaigners also pinpoint the following issues as a problem:

This road frustrates some drivers, who then can make dangerous driving decisions,

which might explain why there have been so many head-on collisions here.

I'm interested in finding out

what industry experts have to say about the hazards on the A27.

So I've asked the chair of the European Road Assessment Programme to give us his analysis.

This is a national trunk road. You can see the traffic volumes

show why it is. I mean, this looks really very heavy traffic for a single carriageway.

Lanes are narrow. There are aggressive objects, trees and hedges,

to left and right.

This is not really what one expects from a national trunk road,

which we know is carrying about 25,000 vehicles a day.

This is really WAY below the standard we'd expect and poor road conditions to boot.

This is not providing any overtaking opportunities,

which at flow levels of 25,000 vehicles a day need to be very frequent.

Otherwise long convoys and frustration builds up. There's a heavy truck there.

There is a long convoy of vehicles behind.

This is NOT a road which is fit for commercial purpose.

Now we're stepping down to 40mph, restricted overtaking.

This is an emergency measure.

Here is a lay-by to the left. That is, at least, of modern design.

It's undulating, poor road condition.

Inadequately loved.

Coming up to the crest of a hill. Visibility is poor.

Banned overtaking is absolutely right.

The road needs to be looked at from first principles.

First of all, get the basics right.

First of all, get the road marking in condition, exactly as it should be,

that all the marking and warnings are actually there.

The run-off risks of aggressive objects close to the roadside should be tackled.

The road almost certainly needs a verge. The hedge lines need to be moved back,

at the very least.

There needs to be attention to where safe overtaking can be provided.

It needs a look at the road in the round, along its whole length.

Like Tony Costen and other campaigners, John Dawson pinpoints visibility as a major issue.

He also points out that a road with such heavy traffic...

I've heard from those most affected by the A27

and from road safety experts.

To get an even better understanding,

I'm meeting someone who has to deal with the immediate aftermath.

Sergeant Phil Duffy has seen first hand the consequences of crashes on this stretch,

having attended over 25 accidents.

I've been to all manner of incidents along this stretch.

Everything from rear-end shunts to fatalities. A pretty mixed bag.

There are times when we have a rear-end shunt which closes the road.

People's perception of, "The A27. Shut again!

"It must be a serious incident." It might be a very minor incident but the road is impassable.

-So we've had to close the road.

-So incidents have a real impact?

What are the main hazards here? It's quite narrow. It rolls a bit. Sight lines aren't good.

It's a narrow road. It's a fast-moving road.

Erm, it's mixed. Mixed array. You've got a big, long straight at this end.

You've got lots of winding roads up to a hill with a junction at the top.

If people drive to the speed limit and look and see what hazards are coming to them,

this is a perfectly safe, negotiable bit of road.

When people don't drive to the conditions or to what they can see, that's when it becomes dangerous.

It is more dangerous than others, cos on some roads you can make mistakes

and you won't be, effectively, punished by the road for it.

-Whereas here, it seems pretty brutal.

-Yeah.

If you get it wrong on a single bit of carriageway and go on the wrong side of the road,

you meet a car coming the other way at the same sort of speed and it's a lot less unforgiving.

After speaking to Sergeant Duffy, it's clear that a variety of different accidents

happen on this road and something needs to be done.

The road is the responsibility of the Highways Agency

and, as Anne Howard explains, there have been ongoing efforts

to get them to undertake specific improvement work.

Berwick Parish Council, perhaps other councils as well, had a meeting with the Highways Agency

and we did suggest ideas, such as tractor lay-bys.

As it's a rural single carriageway, the tractors cause a lot of delays and then people get impatient

and try to overtake those.

So more pulling-in spaces for slow vehicles might help.

They said that they didn't have enough money in their budget for major roadworks.

Local MP Norman Baker echoes his constituents' concerns about the Highways Agency's lack of action

to make the road as safe as possible.

I'm concerned that we still have one major section of the A27 between Lewes and Polegate

which does has to be dealt with.

That's the section between Selmeston and Firle. Some work has been carried out.

But I'm in discussion with the Highways Agency to see what further steps ought to be taken.

I think we still need to do more to look at the safety of that section.

I'm not happy with the Selmeston Bend itself and I'm not happy with the Alciston junction.

So I do want the Highways Agency to look again at that stretch.

They have done some work there. They've extended white lining along the road to discourage overtaking.

And I think we are making progress.

But we have a duty to make sure we make the road as safe as possible,

to reduce the number of accidents and deaths.

The accident rate's coming down markedly, I'm very happy to say.

But that's not good enough. We want to bring it down even further.

Tony Costen believes that if better safety measures HAD been in place,

his brother might still be alive.

He's frustrated that the local campaigns don't seem to be working.

He and his family were involved in securing 1,500 signatures on a petition

that was sent to Downing Street, but were disappointed when nothing changed.

We felt that the petitions were going nowhere.

We thought it's for politicians to say they're behind something, to get their name out front.

But there was no action. There was no deliverance. There was no outcomes at all.

If there's been previous history, then, surely, you know, this is where it comes back

to people in power to do things to change that.

Because, irrespective of the cost, a person's life is worth more than that.

Nothing ever got done, nothing, and to this day there's accidents still occurring and nothing's being done.

There seems to be a strong consensus that more action needs to be taken on this stretch.

Some solutions appear to be simple and low cost, like clearing hedges to improve visibility.

So why hasn't this happened?

We've arranged to meet Rupert Clubb, Director of Economy, Transport and Environment

for East Sussex County Council. He works closely with the Highways Agency,

so can give us an insight into why action hasn't been taken.

We've got to work in partnership with these organisations to make the best of a bad situation.

We're not the only road in the country that we'd like to see improvements on. There are many.

There is only a limited pot of money available and where we spend money,

be it the council, the Highways Agency or any public body, we need to ensure it gives value for money.

So whilst we might express a desire to have an improved road, there's also a reality there

about the amount of funding that's available.

Sometimes small improvements can bring about great benefit.

It's not enough to do one or two incidental features.

There has to be a systematic programme to upgrade the entire road

to the safety standards that are actually required.

And that means a lot more than playing with one or two features.

It means starting from first principles.

Saying, "We're going to have to live with this road broadly as it is for the foreseeable future.

"Now how can we put ALL the safety features in

that will make this a safe and modern road?"

If we could save one death, isn't that worth it?

How much is a person worth? That's the bit I can't come to terms with.

We seem to think by moving a hedgerow, cutting a hedgerow,

widening the road and dispensing of a bit of a lay-by.

Surely, that has got to be worth one person's life.

We'll return to the A27 later,

when we put people's concerns about the road to the Highways Agency.

So clearly on some roads, like the A27,

there are horror stretches which pose a persistent high risk to road users.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

Up and down the country, there are black spots, nasty stretches of road

which have been successfully targeted,

like on the A6069, just outside Skipton.

Set in the heart of North Yorkshire and nestled below the Yorkshire Dales,

the A6069 is a short, four-mile road

linking Skipton with the A59.

Close to where it joins the A59 lies a notorious stretch of road,

known locally as the Niffany Bends.

The road bends sharply to run parallel with the Leeds and Liverpool canal.

And it's this spot that's caused a local outcry.

It horrendous to lose your daughter,

but the one thing I struggled with was because she drowned.

We couldn't believe that it really had happened again cos we all said how ridiculous it was.

Between 2006 and 2010,

there were four accidents within yards of each other at the Niffany Bends.

Tragically, they resulted in one serious injury and three deaths.

In 2008, two people died when the car they were driving left the road at the Bends

and plunged into the canal. They weren't discovered until the following morning.

Just over a year later, in almost exactly the same spot,

18-year-old Charlotte Wade was killed when she lost control of her car

and crashed into the canal, along with two passengers.

Keen horse rider Charlotte, who was studying for her A-levels at the time,

had just passed her driving test the week before the accident.

Her tragic story was widely reported in the local news.

We received a call about 20 to one in the morning.

The vehicle had left the road and gone into the canal.

What we understand is that a driver who was following witnessed this happen.

He got out of his car. Immediately went to assist. He managed to pull one person from the car.

But there was still two people in the car.

A local farmer heard the commotion

and used his tractor to drag the vehicle out of the water.

But, sadly, an 18-year-old girl died

and a 17-year-old boy is in intensive care.

It was a Saturday.

And she'd gone off to have a lesson in the morning

on her pony and after that she'd gone straight on to work.

She'd finished work at 11 o'clock and then gone into Skipton.

The accident happened at about 20 past 12, I do believe.

Our understanding of the accident was that

it was very slow speed when the car entered the canal.

And the police believe it may even have been the weight of the engine

that pulled the car over the canal boundary

and flicked the car upside-down and then into the water.

There were only these decorative railings there.

They wouldn't hold anything back at all.

And the police were of the opinion that if a barrier had been in place,

there would have been no fatality and no serious injury that night.

There was a lot of anger about the accident and we knew...

It was just a heartbreaking time and I think although you try to cope with it the best way and...

I just think how she was taken...

..was hard to comprehend and hard to come to terms with.

But I just think immediately between the accident and the funeral, you're just numb.

There's a vacuum there. You've lost somebody very close and precious.

You're not in any state of mind to analyse what happened and why it happened.

That comes later. That's all part of your grieving process.

It's horrendous to lose your daughter,

but the one thing I struggled with was because she drowned.

Accident's do happen, but for somebody to be driving very slowly

and you can have somebody drown - it's just horrific.

You know, it's not dying from the wounds of an accident.

And for the sake of barriers.

She would have been alive if there'd been barriers there.

That was one thing, I must admit, struck me straight away.

You know, two girls had died the previous year and they drowned.

Charlotte had drowned and it couldn't happen again.

Nobody else could go through what the other families and us were going through at the time.

For friends of the two people who'd died the year before,

it was a shock to hear the same thing had happened again.

We couldn't believe that it really had happened again.

We all said how ridiculous it was that the corner hadn't even been properly fixed for ages.

It was always like a netting thing sort of... Which wasn't protective at all.

And we all couldn't believe that it had happened so close straight after,

after we'd all been saying how it hadn't been fixed properly

and nothing had really been done about it.

Elisabeth and many other young people in Skipton were angry

that Niffany Bends had needlessly claimed another life. Many of them posted their thoughts online.

Almost immediately after the accident,

there was a lot of activity on the social networks that the teenagers and young people...

..well, everybody, uses these days.

There was a memorial site, but there was a petition set up.

And it's amazing how quickly...

..these petitions grow.

You always think that your children don't really communicate,

but, actually, all these social networks and how they all knit together,

it's a force for good in many respects.

And very quickly we ended up with like 5,500 people -

almost in the immediate vicinity -

who had said we want some barriers on that site.

Well, I first heard about it off my best friend

and she said that it was on Facebook.

So I signed up to Facebook and I think everybody...

It was this big petition all over Facebook for everyone to try and sign up to.

They fought so hard

for that cause.

And, really, it introduced politics to them. To make a difference by protest,

by action, but the right type of action.

And where a community wants to make a change,

then there's a catalyst there to make it happen.

As well as online petitions, friends organised protests

and generated as much press coverage as they could in order to get things changed at the Bends.

People were aware of the petition, the need for barriers.

But something had to come out... Something good had to come out of the tragedy.

The Craven Herald, our local paper, erm...

..They sort of led us, in a way, and helped us.

-But, erm...

-They represent the community.

So they - the editor and the editorial staff -

they wanted to make a difference.

And they said, right at the start, they were behind any form of campaign

to install barriers.

In the press it was front page, it was editorial.

A lot of letters from residents were in the press as well.

While the campaign grew and grew, the council were still reluctant to implement any changes

before they had concluded their review of the Bends.

Eventually though, some new safety measures were introduced.

The powers that be were clearly listening

to what was happening in the community.

And they saw fit to put some form of...

..defensive measures on that bend. So we ended up with a high-friction surface,

signs to say "slow down!",

and better road marking. They cut part of the hedge away, so it gave you a better view of the bend.

Cos the hedge used to be very high,

and you came into the bend with a high hedge and you couldn't really see round.

And the corner goes round and round, so that was all removed.

So they made the visibility better. So it's positive.

The improved safety measures were cautiously welcomed by campaigners.

But there were concerns that the calls for a crash barrier hadn't been listened to.

None of the measures that they took would have prevented the two accidents, so...

Yeah, it's... It's good that it happened but we wanted something more

you know, from the Highways especially.

You just think it's red tape.

You know, it's bureaucracy - people with brochures, policies.

You just think, "Well, common sense has got to come into it in some way."

Well, I think you can't put a...

You know, how many deaths do you need to have? One death is too many.

Three deaths is far too many and a serious injury.

And why wait for more people to die?

Erm... You know, it's upsetting really.

But, finally, in November 2010, the major breakthrough campaigners had been fighting for.

At a cost of £150,000, North Yorkshire Country Council

moved underground cables to install new, steel crash barriers on the stretch of the road

next to the canal.

They stated, "The County Council understands the strength of public feeling about this site.

"And has been able to use funding from the service centre transportation strategy

"to deliver this scheme in response to the public consultation exercise."

Bittersweet feelings, really. Not good memories on this stretch,

but it's not going to happen again.

The work that's been done exceeds what I thought it would.

The barrier runs the whole length of the stretch to the railway.

They have made a very good job of the railings.

And I'm pleased that no other family will have to go through what we've been through.

It's more than adequate now. They're the same crash barriers you get on the motorway.

But to me, it's over-engineered, but they have to meet certain requirements and specifications.

They're strong enough. They'll take the impact of an artic,

so, you know, it isn't going to happen again.

Since the barriers have been installed,

there have been no deaths on this stretch of the A6069.

And campaigners are hopeful that no family will have to suffer another loss here.

Only a quarter of all travel by car drivers is between the hours of 7.00pm and 8.00am,

and yet this period accounts for 40% of serious and fatal road accidents.

It's no wonder then that there's focus on improving road safety at night.

Street lighting plays a key role, with nearly two-thirds of people believing that improved lighting

leads to fewer accidents.

I've come to the Transport Research Laboratory in Wokingham

to find out just how beneficial street lighting can be.

So, Nick...

I can see a night-time scenario here. What's this simulation all about?

OK, so in this drive we're looking at how people behave on motorways

when they're lit and when they're unlit. You'll have five minutes of driving

where we've got street lights present.

We then go into an unlit section, where there are no street lights.

And then we go back into a lit section again.

And we compare how you drive in each of those sections.

-So shall we belt up and give it a go?

-Let's go.

So on this one we're on the lit section of motorway. We've got quite a lot of traffic around us.

And it all seems fairly comfortable, I have to say, with the lighting overhead.

And when you're looking at this as an exercise...

I mean, obviously, any form of lighting and structures in the middle cost a lot of money.

They take time and effort to implement.

So I suppose you're assessing the value they have and the impact they have.

That's right. It's the benefits against the costs.

And do the benefits that the street lights provide

outweigh the costs of installation and maintenance?

The studies that we do of this nature are typically for the Highways Agency,

so they can understand how best to use the infrastructure available to them.

'A recent study suggests street lighting

'reduces the number of accidents by an average of 45%,

'as well as lessening severity of crashes. Highways Agency research shows lighting on motorways

'reduces accidents by 10%. So it's clear that street lighting is an important safety tool.'

-What are we looking at here?

-It's mostly about speed choice.

So how fast you choose to travel. If you feel at greater risk,

the chances are you will choose to reduce your speed

and we'll look to see how that changes in the lit and unlit sections of the motorway.

Everything's very clearly defined here. I can see the lanes very clearly from the cat's-eyes.

There's lots of light on the road from the overhead lamps

and the traffic is all showing up.

'With 7.5 million street lights in the UK, costing £500 million each year to power,

'there's pressure to switch some of them off.'

OK, so we're just about to reach the unlit section now.

There's less definition. In the middle lane at least, the cat's-eyes still show up well.

I can definitely feel it working the eyes a bit more as well.

You're not squinting by any stretch, but you're having to focus more carefully, I think.

'Last year, Essex County Council turned off...

'Saving roughly £1.25 million a year.

'A number of other councils have done the same. As well as the financial reasons for doing this,

'there's also environmental benefits, with a reduction in CO2 emissions.

'But from a safety point of view, turning off street lights has been shown to have a negative impact

'with fatal accidents on roads outside built-up areas rising from just over 3% in lit conditions

'to almost 5% without street lights.'

There's clearly some differences, but when you've got a lot of traffic on the road...

You've certainly got plenty of brake lights ahead or tail lights.

That also helps lay out the road.

Yeah, the behaviour of other road users is a good guide

and it certainly is helpful in terms of following the particular lanes.

That is the end of the drive. Please bring the vehicle to a halt.

Right. So there we are. How did I fare with that exercise?

You drove quite happily at 70, sometimes 75mph, in the lit section.

And then as we approached the unlit section,

although you said you felt less comfortable, your speed was essentially the same.

And then, similarly, going back into the lit section, speed dropped a touch on approach,

but, as you got comfortable again in the lit section,

speed crept up and you were comfortable again.

So although I admitted to Nick that I felt less comfortable

driving when there were no street lights, I quickly returned to the same speed as on the lit road,

despite having poorer visibility of what was happening in front of me.

So it seems that although there's a difference in our awareness when a road is lit or unlit,

it doesn't always impact on our choice of speed.

Potentially, increasing the dangers.

Back in East Sussex and a three-mile stretch of the A27 between Firle and Selmeston

still has local residents and campaigners demanding change.

On this stretch you're twice as likely to have a serious accident

compared to the rest of the A27. It's no wonder local residents are in constant fear of the worst.

I mean, it's almost a cliche. From where we live, we hear the sirens going.

And you think, "Oh, there's another accident on the A27."

Then you think where are your daughters, in my case,

and check that they won't be involved in it, you know?

It's a very common occurrence, accidents on this stretch.

Peter Martin-Adams was killed in October 2006

as he rode his motorbike home from work. On the Selmeston Bends,

Peter clipped a car travelling in the other direction,

lost control and was thrown into the path of another oncoming vehicle.

He was killed instantly.

At the hospital,

I saw some of the worst family disruptions we've ever experienced.

Because everyone was hurting. Everyone was grieving.

Because, ultimately, it's a lifetime of eternity of never saying goodbye,

never even telling someone how much you care about them before they go.

And, as a result of that, our family was smashed open.

And, even today,

the family isn't the close family it used to be. It's times like birthdays,

anniversaries, Christmas - all those things make you think sort of how lucky we are,

but unfortunate other people are who've gone.

But it's the void. The void doesn't ever go away.

There is an argument for the road to be turned into a dual carriageway,

as sections of the A27 already are, but the environmental and financial impact

means this option is unlikely to happen soon.

However, there are many people, like Tony Costen, who believe that changes need to be made

to the existing road to make it safer.

They want visibility improved by cutting back trees and hedges,

and the creation of more overtaking opportunities.

You've got to change the layout of this road slightly.

If the road had better visibility, Peter may well have been here today.

Responsibility for the safe upkeep of the A27

belongs to the Highways Agency. We asked for an interview

to put the concerns of locals, campaigners and road-safety experts to them.

Unfortunately, they declined our request,

but they did supply us with a detailed statement responding to the concerns we'd put forward.

So I've met up with Tony again to let him know what they've said.

Tony, thanks for meeting me again.

We've had a statement from the Highways Agency to do with the A27, so I wanted to run it by you.

They highlight, over recent years, they have made improvements on this stretch of the A27.

That's had a positive impact on reduced collisions.

In terms of foliage being cut back, they say it's a landowners' responsibility,

but they will make sure it's done where possible.

But they talk of things "hanging in the road". We were looking more at sight lines

and keeping hedges low, so I'm not sure they've grasped that.

They say they'll take action regarding the signs highlighted.

These are the ones that were slightly overgrown or facing the wrong way. So that's something.

In terms of trees being near the kerb and the side of the road,

they say, actually, most accidents don't involve people hitting trees.

It's more about people going into the wrong lane.

So they don't feel it's necessary to put crash barriers around every tree. Erm...

But they'll look at it again, if need be. It's a little bit reactive, I think.

They say they continually monitor the problems there

and if the stats start to go the wrong way,

if there's an increase in incidents, they will investigate further.

-I don't know if you've got any kind of immediate...

-Yeah, I have!

I'd welcome the opportunity of sitting down with someone from this department.

Someone in the Highways Agency, local or central government

should stand the ground that every time someone dies on a piece of their road,

which they've not governed or put the right rulings down,

should face a consequence, end of story.

Certainly, I would quibble that at one point we put it to them, in our questions,

"Due to the amount and type of traffic travelling on this road, the road engineer..."

That we had in our programme. "..Felt this stretch of the A27 currently wasn't fit for purpose."

Which is what you're saying. Lots of traffic from businesses starting up in the area.

They don't really address this. They say what CAN'T be done. They don't say what CAN be done.

It's quite simple. We're in a period where it's about the economy. It's about finding funds,

distributing those funds to try and get an even trend.

Make the correct choice now.

Do what can be done, which is using the waste grounds to the side.

Take the bend out, put it into a straighter road.

Put some sort of action where you have the flashing warning signs.

Drop the speed limit from 50 to 40 sooner.

Why not make it 40 all the way back from the Firle Straights, where they've already made changes?

Reduce the speed and get the traffic off of there.

Make some meaning so the heavy transport stuff can't go on this bit of road.

They're looking at funding, not at the well-being of the public and it's a load of toffee.

For everything you've been through and for everything you've tried to do, what do you do now?

I think from this point, since I'm absolutely infuriated by these comments,

is to look at local communities, start getting them onside.

Start campaigning. Start trying to get some sort of petition again on the internet.

Get the local papers involved and try and meet up with some more of the families who, like us,

have gone through this trauma.

And get as many voices as possible to back this.

Because this isn't going to change. I'm not going to go away from this now.

And I will speak to as many people as possible to push this point forward.

So good news that the Highways Agency is going to look again

at the signage and foliage on the A27.

But I would still argue that more can be done.

In some ways, the statistics say things have got better.

The accident rate per vehicle-miles driven has fallen over the last decade.

However, there are an alarming number of injuries on what is a very short stretch of road.

And the other issue is just simply one of traffic. A huge increase of traffic.

There's now 3,000 vehicles more a day using this road then ten years ago.

And yet, despite a few treatments here and there and changes of speed limits in places,

nothing fundamental has been done to make this road fit for purpose

for the traffic it now receives.

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