Massive drop in accidents on Cotswold main road (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Massive drop in accidents on Cotswold main road

10:30am Thursday 18th October 2012 in News By Ian Craig

ONE of the Cotswold’s busiest main roads has seen a massive drop in crashes.

Figures released by the Road Safety Foundation, a charity working to prevent road crashes, this week showed 74 per cent drop in fatal and serious crashes on the A435 between Cirencester and Cheltenham from 2006 to 2010 in comparison with the previous five years.

There were 29 serious and fatal crashes on the 12km single-carriage road between 2001 and 2005, but only nine between 2006 to 2010, making it the second most improved road in Britain after the B1095 in Peterborough.

The improvement was put down to a range of measures including junction improvements, resurfacing and speed limit changes.

Cotswold District Councillor Paul Hodgkinson (Lib Dem, Churn Valley), who has campaigned for greater awareness of the dangers of the busy road for the past five years, said he was delighted by the result.

“It’s down to a lot of hard work by a mix of groups including police, residents and campaigners,” he said.

“This result underlines that effort.

“Any road can be dangerous, it depends on how you drive on it, but I think there’s a lot more awareness from drivers about how dangerous that road can be.”