Gwynedd roads ‘among UK’S most dangerous’ in winter
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GWYNEDD has the steepest road in Europe and mountain passes so tortuous they were used to develop prototype vehicles. Professional cyclists train on the county’s famously twisty roads and one was renowned as the Tour of Britain’s most challenging climb.
In winter, navigating Gwynedd’s roads becomes trickier still. Up to five metres of rain can fall on the mountains, some of it as sleet and snow. Ice is a constant threat.
Between January 2022 and August 2023, the A494 between Dolgellau and Corwen saw 15 crashes, three of them fatal. The A496, from Llanelltyd to Blaenau
Ffestiniog, has become infamous for accidents as motorists become distracted by the beautiful views.
Safety improvements have been proposed for the B4405 at Talyllyn following a spate of fatal accidents. Last November, a terrible tragedy on the A4085 at Llanfrothen saw four young men drown when their car left the road.
For years, people have been campaigning for safety improvements on the A496, which runs through the Llanbedr bottleneck and along narrow coastal roads. Resident Peter Jones spoke to the BBC to highlight the seven crashes in two years on the A496 at Rhyd y Sarn, near Blaenau Ffestiniog. “It’s the sort of statistic you’d expect on a motorway rather than a village,” he said.
Small wonder then that Gwynedd’s road network has been named amongst the UK’S most dangerous for winter drivers. In the 10 years to 2022 there were 45 crashes due to rain, sleet, snow or fog. On a population basis, this equates to 38 incidents per 100,000 people.
In a study by accident compensation firm Claims.co.uk, this placed Gwynedd in 12th spot for winter crashes amongst Britain’s local authority areas - and the highest in Wales. Given the challenging nature of Gwynydd’s winter weather, and some of its roads, the only surprise was that it wasn’t higher.
Above Gwynedd were the well-heeled London boroughs of Westminister and Kensington & Chelsea. Nottingham was also rated worse despite implementing a workplace tax to encourage public transport.
Ranked worst was Scotland’s Argyll and Bute with 67 winter crashes per 100,000 people. With lochs and hills reminiscent of Gwynedd’s mountains and lakes, it perhaps shows that drivers in northwest Wales are altogether more careful.
A spokesperson at Claims.co.uk said: “In the UK, 17% of all road accidents occur during the winter months, putting drivers and pedestrians at risk. We’re reminding people from across the nation to stay safe behind the wheel this season.”