Safe Speed Forums

The accident took place at 1440 BST on the A6 between Plumpton and Stoneybeck.

In all areas, the majority of fatal and serious injury accidents occurred while vehicles were driving straight ahead or going into left or right hand bends

Most fatal and serious injury accidents in the Penrith rural area occur between 12noon and 5pm

Almost all accidents occur while vehicles were travelling straight ahead although turning right and overtaking also featured in the causation records

In 2004 there was a 67 per cent reduction in people killed and seriously injured at the hotspots monitored by CSC

Arrest as woman dies in car crash
A man has been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving after a woman was killed in a crash on a Cumbria road.

The 44-year-old woman, who is believed to be from Liverpool, was injured in the collision on the A591 near Kendal on Monday morning, and died later.

The driver of a Land Rover, a 25-year-old man from Worcestershire, was arrested and is being questioned.

Police are appealing for anyone who saw a Red Astra with its hazard lights on to come forward.

Here's the text (as it presently stands):

Six killed in head-on car crash

Six people died - five of them from the same extended family - in a head-on crash between two cars.

A couple, their four-month-old baby and the man's two sisters, were in a Ford Escort that was in collision with a Toyota Prius near Penrith, Cumbria.

An elderly man in the Toyota also died and a woman, believed to be his wife, was taken to Carlisle Infirmary with critical injuries.

The accident took place at 1440 BST on the A6 between Plumpton and Stoneybeck.

The occupants of the Escort come from the Penrith area.

Inspector Sean Murphy, of Cumbria Police, said: "It was a horrendous accident. An investigation is under way to find out exactly what happened.

"Our prime concern is to notify the next-of-kin. Officers are currently tracking down various family members to inform them of what's happened."
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That's a big one.

...is largely just a cruel twist of fate.

A Cumbria Police spokesman said: “At this time our inquiries suggest Ricky Stott only held a provisional licence.

“However, we cannot confirm that this was the case. This does not necessarily mean that he was to blame for the collision occurring and is only one of a number of lines of inquiry we are investigating to establish what happened in this tragic collision.”

Police say Sarah held a full licence.

The spokesman added: “Sarah Wigham was a qualified driver. If you accompany a learner driver you have to be 21-years-old and you have to have held a full licence for three years.

“Sarah was 21-years-old and we are currently making inquiries to establish when she passed her test.”

There is an issue where drivers who only have experience of driving a vehicle with just one passenger, are taken by surprise by the change in handling with more passengers.

The best way to find out is to drive WITH a fully loaded vehicle, when it is safe to do so, just as many of us here, probably try in small steps to see what the limits of our vehicles are. Perhaps if this was actually taught at a driving centre, rather than on roads without qualified supervision, we would start to produce drivers of a better standard than we do now!

A difficulty now is that driving is so constrained, with all the speed cameras and regulations, that it is no longer possible to “push the boundaries” in quiet and safe conditions to gain experience about the handling of a vehicle.

Scam sites are A6 Thiefside to the north....

PLANS for a speed camera on the A6 were cancelled after the Government withdrew funding in the face of mounting public oppositionto the devices, police have revealed.

Instead, it was decided to lower the speed limit to 40mph.

Police chiefs say the camera would have saved lives.

Last Sunday six people, including a four-month old baby and an eight-year-old girl, died on the A6 near the Plumpton crossroads.

The accident, the cause of which is still under investigation, claimed the lives of 19-year-old learner driver Ricky Stott, his 21-year-old fiancee Sarah Wigham, and their baby son Luca.

Also in Mr Stott’s Ford Escort at the time of the accident on Father’s Day were Ricky’s sisters Kirsty Louise, 17, and eight-year-old Lindsey.

Sarah and Luca will be cremated on Monday at 11am in Carlisle. A service for Ricky, Kirsty and Lyndsey will be held next Wednesday at 11am at Penrith Methodist Church followed by burial at Penrith Cemetery.

A second motorist, 84-year-old Manchester man Stanley Critchley, who was driving a Toyota Prius, also died. His wife was in a critical condition.

Sixteen people have died on the A6 between Carlisle and Penrith in the last three years and this has prompted some villagers in Plumpton to claim that a roadside school playground could be the scene of another tragedy.

A new speed limit on either side of the Plumpton crossroads is due to come into force in July.

Despite the road’s shocking death toll, Superintendent Steve Turnbull said Cumbria’s roads death toll was cut by 25 per cent last year.

He said: “A camera was planned, and it could have been installed – we did all the measurements and it had approval from the Department for Transport.

“It would have been sited just a few hundred yards north of the accident scene. But the Government decided that there should be no further expansion of fixed camera sites after public pressure.

“But it would save lives – that’s a proven fact. All of the sites in Cumbria where we have mobile camera vans have seen a reduction in fatalities.

“The A6 is similar to many roads in Cumbria. It has long clear stretches with intermittent bends, junctions, etc. and has light traffic on it when compared with other parts of the country.”

Without commenting on the cause of Sunday’s accident, he said such accidents can happen to cars which are driving within the speed limit.

Within Plumpton village, residents said cutting the speed limit would be a key factor in making the road safer, though some wanted safety measures to go further.

Some fear that a car may one day crash into the playground of Plumpton Primary School, whose boundary wall is just a few yards from the edge of the crossroads.

n A coroner yesterday recorded a verdict of accidental death on Dorothy Lister, 55, of Greenacres, Plumpton, near Penrith, and Gina Renucci, 22, of Carlisle, who died in an accident last October, a short distance from the scene of Sunday’s collision.

Though the cause of Sunday’s crash is not yet established, road safety experts say driver education is the key to saving lives.

Cumbria Fire Service group manager Alan Sowerby, who attended Sunday’s crash along with part-time fire crews from Penrith and Lazonby, said: “Cumbria has some of the most dangerous roads in terms of fatalities.

“We don’t yet know what went wrong on Sunday, and can’t make any judgements, but we just want to emphasise to people that you really do need to drive carefully, maintaining concentration and observing the speed limits.”

Experts say that often, fatal accidents resulted from a combination of factors, such as weather, the road conditions and the manner of driving involved.

The fire service is working with other agencies in the county to improve safety awareness among drivers, particularly those aged between 17 and 25, who are statistically more likely to be at risk.

Mr Sowerby said he wanted to reach out to young drivers, or organisations involved with such groups, who could benefit from and are willing to take up road awareness training with the service.

that driver education was part of a three-prong approach taken in Cumbria to reduce serious and fatal accidents.

The other two strategies focus on engineering solutions to road safety issues – such as improving road signs; and the enforcement of speed limits and other safety laws.

This includes the deployment of three safety camera vans, which deter motorists from speeding because they are so highly visible.

According to the CSCP website,

No sh*t Sherlock!

Wonder how long it took for them to come up with that one!

And there I was thinking that the majority of accidents happened to vehicles which were driving in reverse! So, now we know!