A64 locals warn ‘more lives will be lost’

That's the stark warning from residents following an accident on the A64 which left a woman, aged in her eighties, dead.

They say changes are needed now, but there is no Government money available for at least ten years.

The woman was killed when she was hit by a car as she crossed the road at Whitwell-on-the-Hill just after 3pm on Thursday.

Jo Denton, chairman of Whitwell with Crambe Parish Council, said: "Particularly from Welburn to Barton Hill, the A64 is just atrocious. Something needs to be done at Whitwell.

"An underpass or a flyover would cost a huge sum of money and, although we've asked, the Government just won't pay for it.

"I never let my teenage sons cross that road - you have three seconds to get across four lanes of traffic. I see people doing it in the past, and it's such an awful risk. All it takes is one mistake.

"We have just drawn up our own parish plan and a lot of the complaints are about accessibility to public transport, specifically the bus stop on the other side of the road. We've tried asking the buses to pull into the village, but apparently that won't work because there is nowhere for them to turn.

"I have been here 19 years, and there have been so many accidents and near-misses."

Police said the woman was dropped off by a car on the west-bound carriageway of the A64, near the bus stop. She then attempted to cross over to the Whitwell side.

Michael Knaggs, who represents Malton on North Yorkshire County Council, described parts of the A64 as "a pig of a road", and said the constant changing between single and dual carriageway made it far too dangerous. He said: "The A64 is out-of-date. It's a mix of single and dual carriageway and those two roads don't help each other at all. Drivers coming off one on to the other suddenly have to slow down or speed up, and it isn't safe.

"There's no doubt about it - it needs to be all dual carriageway in the interests of safety and the economy.

"Malton is blocked by traffic in the morning and evening, and the number of commuters is only going to grow.

"The only way to solve it is by spending big money on it, but the money just isn't there. And how many fatalities will there have to be before something is done?"

The Press reported last April how a £500 million scheme to widen the A64 to dual carriageway all the way from York to Scarborough had dropped off the list of Government priority projects for the next decade. It is therefore extremely unlikely it will go ahead before 2016 at the very earliest.

Farmer angry over police dangerous' diversions

A FARMER has hit out at the police over their handling of traffic diversions following the fatal crash on the A64.

Pig farmer Bob Polley, 60, who farms at Barton Hill, between Malton and York, said he was reduced to taking a torch and wearing a luminous jacket to help direct traffic himself.

Mr Polley said diversions put in place after an elderly woman was hit by a car and killed at about 3.15pm on Thursday, at Whitwell-on-the-Hill, were "downright dangerous".

The accident sparked rush-hour chaos, with tailbacks of more than five miles in all directions.

Diverted traffic heading from Malton towards York was diverted at Welburn and used back roads, coming back on to the A64 at Barton Hill where Mr Polley claims there was no police until around 5pm.

He claims some confused drivers were turning the wrong way on to the dual carriageway and it is only through good luck a second accident didn't happen.

Mr Polley said: "I have lived here 30 years and seen this sort of thing happen time and again. You would think the police could have some sort of traffic management system in place for when accidents do occur, because if this goes on there will be more deaths."

Both lanes of the west-bound A64 were shut for more than five hours as police accident investigators combed the stretch of the road at the top of Whitwell Hill.

Police spokesman Ron Johnson said police cars with blue lights were stationed at Barton Hill cross roads to help direct traffic.

He said: "I think the key thing here is that there were no further accidents and no one else was injured.

"We appreciate diversions can cause problems, but there's little other way in situations like this if we are to keep traffic moving."