'Lot of work' to make Cambridgeshire roads safer, warn police

The aim is to reach zero serious or fatal incidents by 2040

Author: Dan MasonPublished 18th Jun 2023

Roads in Cambridgeshire are not dangerous to drive on but can be made safer, according to police.

The county's Vision Zero partnership aims to halve the number of serious and fatal road accidents by 2030, and then zero 10 years later.

An inquest into the deaths of Jennifer Bunyan, her unborn child Erin Chatten and mum Marion on Puddock Road near Warboys found four deaths took place in five years on the 60mph route.

PC Nick Southern, casualty reduction officer at the force, feels more work must be done to improve road conditions in the Fens and across the county.

“I would never say a road itself is dangerous, but I believe a road can be made safer,” he said.

“In terms of road infrastructure, that’s something we do work with the local authorities like Cambridgeshire County Council, one of our road safety partners."

"The numbers are going the right way"

Figures from Cambridgeshire Police found between April 2022 and the same month this year, there were 388 road incidents that involved a death and/or serious injury.

That is a drop from 426 for the previous 12-month period, with 13 incidents involving a road death or serious injury recorded in April.

PC Southern said measures such as installing average speed cameras would be put in place in areas where frequent collisions happen.

Earlier this week, road safety charity Brake called for all roads near schools to have a 20mph speed limit to cut the number of child crash deaths.

But with a Met Office thunderstorm warning in place for much of England today, he has warned drivers to stay alert.

“You’ve got a lot of national speed limit roads, but there are some roads you can barely do 50 or 40mph over because of how bouncy the road and end up causing more damage to your car, so I’d say a speed limit is not a target, it’s a limit,” he added.

“Any fatal on the road is one too many and they do stay with you.

“That’s why we’re committed to the zero target by 2040; we’ve got a lot of work to do, but the numbers are going the right way.”

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