Bereaved father calls for urgent council action after latest fatality on Peterborough road

On Sunday (December 12), a 66-year-old woman was killed and a further two people were seriously injured after a crash along the B1167 New Cut, Thorney.

RELATED:

66-year-old woman dies and two people seriously injured after fatal collision near Peterborough

The incident is the latest in a series of serious incidents on the road. A freedom of information request in June uncovered that since April 2016, 18 further collisions along New Cut, including two fatalities, have been recorded on the police database.

Ever since his son Cain (19) died along the same stretch of road in November last year, Ernest Martin has campaigned for safety improvements on the road and he has spoken of his shock that another person had lost their life on the road.

His campaign prompted the council to commission Royal Haskoning DHV to carry out a Road Safety Review and among its recommendations was to lower the speed limit from 60mph to 50mph.

This has been implemented on a temporary basis until February 2023, when a decision about making the reduction permanent will be made.

The council has said that because the review was not a Road Safety Audit completed in accordance with the formal procedure laid down by the Department for Transport it does not have to respond to or accept any of the findings.

The council, however, has said it isfully engaged with the review and has said it wishes to use it to inform a transparent and open process.

The review also recommended increasing the height of warning signage, installing average speed cameras, passive signposts - designed to lower risk when hit- and to add raised rib edge marking.

The council has also agreed to raise the height of the warning signs above the surrounding vegetation.

While Mr Martin has welcomed the steps taken so far, he has remained steadfast in his belief that speed cameras should be installed along the road.

In their response to the review, the council has said it does not propose to introduce cameras as their introduction “could result in motorists who do speed moving to other Fenland roads with very similar conditions, meaning that the cameras would not address the issue of speeding and potentially move road traffic collisions to other roads instead.”

The council will, however, monitor speed and collision data to evaluate the case for average speed cameras alongside a permanent speed limit.

Mr Martin said: “I will not be letting this issue go. The safety recommendations have already been made and they need to be acted upon immediately, given this latest incident. I am so angry.

“Another needless loss of life has happened on this death trap of a road, despite my own warnings and the warnings of several other members of the public. It has been caused by a failure to listen, evaluate and respond to the lack of safety on the road.”