Melton accident blackspots are among county's 10 most dangerous roads and junctions according to council figures

Data released by Leicestershire County Council showed there had been 17 accidents resulting in injury over a five-year period at the A606 Nottingham Road junction with the Ab Kettleby crossroads - ranking it in fifth place out of the county’s 10 most dangerous roads and junctions.

The 17 accidents at this junction were more than the seven crashes which county highways officers had predicted, by using specialist computer software, to take place there over the same period.

At number nine on the danger list is the A606 Wilton Road junction with the bus station car park. There were 14 injury accidents at this junction over the same period (January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2014) compared to six predicted crashes.

The figures take into account all roads in the county, apart from motorways or trunk roads which are managed by Highways England.

The most dangerous county road on the list was the Narborough Road South roundabout junction with Fosse Park Avenue, with 31 accidents over the five years.

A County Hall spokeswoman said: “The safety of people using the 2,575 miles of roads across Leicestershire is a key priority for us and we have introduced a number of measures across the county to reduce the number of accidents on our roads.

“There have been improvement works at many of the junctions, including those in Melton, to help reduce the number of accidents.

“Since 2014 we have introduced a yellow box at Wilton Road and a new island with improved signs at the Ab Kettleby crossroads.

“Along with junction improvements, road safety education and training courses are provided by the Leicestershire and Rutland Road Safety Partnership and help to keep Leicestershire’s roads among the safest in the country.

“We will continue to monitor the impact these improvements and changes to the roads have on accident figures and, subject to funding, will work to make further alterations if they are needed.”

Councillor Pam Posnett, who is chairwoman of the county council’s highways forum for Melton, said she was surprised the two borough blackspots listed so highly on the council’s danger list.

She said: “Certainly, because of where I live, I’m very used to the crossroads at the top of Broughton Hill. I nearly came to grief there the other night. It was getting dark and I was turning right. You have to look both ways and remember the traffic coming towards you from Long Clawson way.

“I got to the front of the queue to turn right and there was a young girl in a car opposite me. I pulled out to turn right and had almost completed my turn when the girl started to draw her car out. She probably looked both ways but hadn’t checked what was happening in front of her. I hit my brakes and so did she but that could have been another knock there.

“I think a lot of it is down to drivers being impatient and in a hurry but the highways department have widened accesses there so you do have a greater view.”

Mrs Posnett added: “When you’re turning right on Wilton Road to go into the car park, coming from the Nottingham Road way, it can often be very difficult because quite often there’s a line of traffic waiting to turn right at the traffic lights heading onto Norman Way but traffic in the left hand lane is still moving.

“You have to be very careful how you approach it. Whether anything can be done to alter that to make it safer, personally I struggle to find a solution, but if local residents want to bring it up at the highways forum it can be one of the issues for us to discuss.

“The other problem on Wilton Road concerns the pedestrian refuge in the middle of the road. Some people won’t walk either way to the traffic lights to cross and instead they dodge the traffic to get onto that refuge.”

l What do you make of the dangerous road findings? You can email your views to [email protected] or write in, giving your name, address and a contact number. You can pop your letter, addressed for the Letters Page, through the letterbox of our Nottingham Street office or post your letter to the Letters Page, the Melton Times, 49 Nottingham Street, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, LE13 1NT.