I WOULD like to make a few comments regarding the A682 - 'the most dangerous rural road in England' - from Long Preston to Barrowford.

I was recently interviewed along with others about the road which went out on the internet.

The interviewer was asking people their views regarding the action that has been taken to reduce accidents, many of them fatal, on this road.

In 2018 North Yorkshire County Council secured £11.5m for road safety from the Government's Safer Roads Fund.

The money, announced by the Department for Transport, is for work to upgrade four stretches of road in the county over the next five years.

The county council submitted bids for each of the projects and has been awarded 100 per cent of the money requested.

This included £615,000 for the A682 from Barrowford to the A65 at Long Preston.

There have been a number of fatal accidents, including one in the 30mph limit at Long Preston where a motorcyclist was killed.

There have been a number of fatal accidents at Bend Gate and also along the road to the junction at Hellifield including all types of vehicles.

There was a serious accident at the section of road near the water treatment works at Hellifield just before Christmas.

This section of road is on a blind summit and a few years ago I had to go and take a video to prove to NYCC that this was the case; eventually NYCC extended the double white lines but there are no signs indicating that this is a blind summit.

I have asked for speed limits to be put in place including one from Long Preston to Bend Gate but I am told that this can't be done.

I know that people will say it is not the road's fault but the drivers who use it.

In answer I will say that these people must drive on other roads as well.

Then why are there not as many fatal accidents on the other roads?

There must be a reason for all these accidents, perhaps its speed or line of sight.

I will now move on to what has been done on the Lancashire section of this road.

A 50mph speed limit has been put in place on the road from the Yorkshire/Lancashire border at Nappa through to Gisburn.

Average speed cameras have been installed from Gisburn to Blacko (60mph) and from there to Barrowford again average speed cameras (30mph).

These actions have really cut down the number of accidents.

So come on NYCC take a lead from Lancashire and get some safety measures in place, or is it a case of out of sight out of mind?

Chris Moorby (Craven district councillor)

Long Preston

(Note- North Yorkshire County Council was asked to comment and was unable to respond in time).