Star comment: A49 drivers have to wait for longer
Motorists who regularly use the A49 in Shropshire will not be surprised that it has been identified as the county's most dangerous road.
Statistics show that in three years to 2014 there were eight fatal accidents on the A49 between Ludlow and Whitchurch. But there were over twice as many accidents overall on the A5/M54.
The inference is that on the A49 the crashes that there are, are particularly deadly. All you have to do is drive along it to make a good guess as to why.
There are plenty of lorries which back up traffic, and not many places where you can pass safely.
This is a recipe for increasing frustration on the part of drivers. Once the press-on types realise that they are in for a longer wait than they are prepared to put up with, they start to roll the dice.
As there is no reason to believe that people who drive on the A5 or M54 are inherently safer drivers than those driving on the A49, we have to look at road design as a way to reduce this terrible toll.
Creating safer stretches of the A49 would cost a lot of money. And we all know what public finances are like.
Those A49 drivers look like they are going to have to wait some more.
