People 'incredibly happy' over speed limit reduction on Shropshire road named as one of country's most dangerous, councillor says
People will be "incredibly happy" at plans to cut the speed limit on the Shropshire section of road named as one of England's most dangerous, a councillor has said.
Rob Gittins added that work to improve safety along the A529 was "incredibly important", and that further work to upgrade the school crossing in Hinstock, near Market Drayton, was also planned for the future.
It comes after Shropshire Council launched a consultation on Thursday for plans to reduce the speed from 60mph to 50mph between Hinstock and Woodseaves.
It will be the latest move as part of a £3.8 million Department for Transport (DfT) fund to increase safety along the stretch of road, which was highlighted as one of the country's most dangerous in the 2016 EuroRAP Risk Ratings Report.
Councillor Gittins, who represents Cheswardine, Childs Ercall, Hinstock and Sutton on Shropshire Council, said: "Residents will be incredibly happy that the council is taking a look at the speed limit, which is incredibly important along this road.
"It was highlighted by the DfT as one of the most dangerous roads in the country and we've been given nearly £4 million to make it safer. I believe this will help to do that and I believe recent work already carried out on the Mount Pleasant crossroads has been incredibly successful.
"There's been a lot of hard work that's already gone into improving this area.
"We've secured funding to upgrade the school crossing in Hinstock – that is being merged in with the A529 programme and we hope to get that done as soon as possible."
Councillor Gittins said the speed limit along the road "jumped around", changing between 30, 40, 50 and 60mph, and that he would consider making it all 40mph.
"I do realise that highways engineers have to follow certain criteria and if there's a stretch of the road that doesn't meet the 40mph criteria, I understand they cannot implement this even if I don't necessarily agree with it," he said.
Councillor Gittins added: "From a council's point of view we will continue to monitor the data and only time will tell how well these improvements work, but this is certainly a positive step."
There have been a number of fatal collisions on the road in recent years. In 2016, a 23-year old man died when the car he was a passenger in left the road and went down an embankment.
An 80-year-old woman died following a two-vehicle crash at the Sweet Appletree crossroads near Hinstock in 2015.
In December 2017, a man in his 60s suffered a head injury after his car collided with a wall on the A529 near Woodseaves.
For more information or to submit feedback on the speed limit consultation, contact the council's highways engineering team by emailing traffic.engineering@shropshire.gov.uk, writing to Traffic Engineering Team, Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, SY2 6ND, or by calling 03456 789006.
