Drivers ignore speed warning (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Drivers ignore speed warning

8 DEAD IN 12 DAYS: A CRACKDOWN on speeding drivers on the A36 has revealed safety warnings are being ignored.

Crashes have injured or killed 434 people on the A36 in Wiltshire in the past three years, but the blitz on Wednesday found drivers still travelling at dangerous speeds.

In the space of a few hours, over 100 cars were caught speeding in the operation organised by the Wiltshire and Swindon Road Safety Partnership.

The safety camera unit was sent out in response to a number of horrific crashes on the A36, including a head-on collision at Codford last Monday which left two people dead.

Cameras also recorded one driver hitting 95mph on the Warminster bypass, at the spot where three people were killed only a month ago.

Sgt Nick Blencowe, of the safety camera unit, said: "Excessive speed is responsible for most accidents but so is poor driver attention and concentration.

"Evidence shows if we have drivers speeding they have less time to react to dangerous situations. But it is not as simple as that. The A36 is a very busy stretch of road but has different sections which, if the driver is not aware of them, can cause difficulties.

"The ability to adapt to different conditions is vital to save lives. People may be driving in relatively good conditions and then encounter a section where the road is not in such good repair and they don't adapt quickly enough."

Four vans were placed on the A36, including the Warminster bypass and near the notorious stretch of road between Codford and Heytesbury dubbed 'death valley'.

The speed crackdown is part of a nationwide initiative to improve safety on the roads for World Health Day.

Statistics compiled by the safety camera unit reveal that in the past three years there have been 276 crashes and 15 people have died.

Kevin Bolan, analyst for the safety camera unit, said: "We analyse the collision statistics for the country on a continual basis and the Wiltshire length of the A36 is of particular concern to us.

"Statistics for three years to December 31 2003, show that a total of 434 were killed or injured in just the Wiltshire section of the A36.

"That's the equivalent of a full jumbo jet on one road in a small county."

The safety camera unit has also backed the Wiltshire Times' Drive Down the Death Toll campaign.

Codford Parish councillor Romy Wyeth has been campaigning for safety improvements on the A36.

She said: "Although excess speed causes the majority of accidents, there are areas where you can drive fast quite safely.

"The problem is when drivers meet untreated stretches of road and they are not prepared, such as the part in Codford called 'death valley'."

All drivers caught speeding on the A36 during the safety blitz will be sent fines in the post.

and just one week later

THE death toll on west Wiltshire's roads has risen to eight in just 12 days after another horrific crash this week.

The latest smash at Stoney Gutter crossroads, on the A350 on Tuesday, killed three people from the same family.

The terrible accident involving a car and a lorry came days after traffic police issued safety warnings to all drivers, following two fatal collisions last week.

Three people were killed in an accident between Seend Fork and Caen Hill, Devizes, last Friday. The smash left two children orphaned and another without a father.

Two more people died, husband and wife John and Priscilla Barnes of Shepton Mallet, and four more were injured after a head-on collision on the A36 at Codford last Monday afternoon.

The latest fatalities come during World Health Week when road safety experts are drawing attention to the rise in the number of people killed in road accidents.