A19 safety call gets louder

If there are 50 roads more dangerous than the A19 then the nation’s transport system really is in dire straits.

Today we reveal that Government will not be allocating funds to make this stretch of road safer because, according to their system of measurement, it is not deemed dangerous enough.

With £170million available to target the top 50 A roads carrying the biggest risk of death and serious injury to road users, we thought the A19 was nailed on to get some cash.

Latest stats reveal that between the Wolviston interchange and Testo’s Roundabout there have been an estimated 36 collisions, involving 88 vehicles and resulting in 71 people being injured.

Despite these woeful statistics, the A19 isn’t going to get a penny from the fund.

Either the current measurement system is flawed, or the national road infrastructure is worse than we thought.

But if the Government think this response is going to see the public back down from the campaign to make the A19 safer, it has another thing coming.

More than 1,000 people have signed our petition pressing the Department for Transport to listen to the concerns of the North East public and launch an inquiry into the causes of the collisions that put lives at risk.

Pointing out that there are more dangerous roads in the country will not reassure the public.

The A19 may not, in the eyes of the Government, be dangerous enough for one pot of cash, but that does not mean the road is not dangerous.

The call for an inquiry is not being shut up by this announcement, it’s getting louder.