Safety chief advises on �250,000 improvements after witnessing accidents herself on A1101
EXCLUSIVE by: MAGGIE GIBSON ROAD safety expert Amanda Mays revealed that witnessing two accidents at a Fenland blackspot will help the push for an urgent �250,000 safety scheme. If the bid is successful work could start next year remodelling the Gypsy ben
EXCLUSIVE by: MAGGIE GIBSON
ROAD safety expert Amanda Mays revealed that witnessing two accidents at a Fenland blackspot will help the push for an urgent �250,000 safety scheme.
If the bid is successful work could start next year remodelling the Gypsy bends on the A1101 Sutton Road, Wisbech.
"We see crash demonstrations all the time but it is more emotional when you see them in real life and it was a relief that no one was hurt," said Ms Mays, team leader for road safety engineering at Cambridgeshire County Council.
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"We are all too aware that local residents have often witnessed this first hand and can only imagine the distress they feel."
Until she saw for herself, the road safety engineering team had been considering a more costly, but longer term, solution that would have involved a much lengthier bidding and design process.
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"Witnessing these accidents gave us an extra insight into the problems," she said. "We were able to refine the scheme to be more focused, it is not quite as extensive but it is targeted at the right spot.
"Actually witnessing the mechanics of a real life crash is very unusual."
The accidents came after a long dry spell and the road was damp and slippery. Ms Mays was talking to the driver of the first car to come off the road when the second accident occurred.
"It was lucky I did move her away from where the accident happened because a short time later another car went off the road and hit a car from the oncoming stream of traffic at the same spot," she said. "Luckily no one was hurt.
"Thankfully we had moved away because we had been standing in the same place just 10 minutes before the second crash happened."
Since then there has been another fatal accident on the bends which have the highest number of fatal or serious accidents in the whole of Cambridgeshire. Campaigners are still lobbying for a 40mph speed limit and fixed safety cameras.
Ms Mays believes the improvements now planned are effective and deliverable in the next financial year. It will go for Cabinet approval in December.
