Accident hot-spots on roads in Kettering, Corby and Wellingborough revealed

The worst accident hot-spots on Northants roads have been revealed by data from the Department for Transport (DfT).

In just five years between January 2014 to December 2018, there were 647 accidents causing casualties on the 10 worst roads in Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough and East Northants.

The worst road is the A509 in Wellingborough with 91 accidents causing casualties between January 2014 and December 2018.

There were 13 more accidents on the A509 than the next worst road, the A43 in Kettering.

The A509 links Kettering to Wellingborough and continues to Milton Keynes. In September 2019, motorcyclist Lewis Marks, 34, suffered fatal injuries when he was involved in a crash with two other cars.

This incident is not included in the data, which is from January 2014 to the end of 2018.

The A43 in Kettering had 78 collisions over the same period. This road links Corby from the north to Kettering and then heads down to Northampton.

Earlier this year, three people were killed in a crash between Hannington and Sywell on the A43. Stuart Ratcliffe, 40, and his grandparents Fred, 98, and Jean, 90, were in a Vauxhall Corsa which collided head-on with a Volvo lorry in February.

Another crash on the second worst road in Northants left Kettering librarian, Yvonne Maple, 38, with multiple broken bones after her silver Volkswagen collided with a Volvo HGV in November 2019.

The other accident hot-spots in north Northants include the A6003 in Kettering with 72 accidents between 2014 and 2018, the A45 in Wellingborough with 68, and the A14 in Kettering with 62.

Despite the high figures, the number of accidents causing injury or death in Britain has fallen by 16 per cent during this time.

A spokesperson for road safety charity Brake said there were steps drivers could take to prevent accidents, such as slowing down, not using mobile phones when driving and getting their eyesight tested regularly.

But the spokesperson also said there needs to be “greater investment in road traffic enforcement so that people who do drive dangerously and break the law, endangering themselves and all other road users, are caught and punished”.

Northamptonshire has a dedicated police Safer Roads Team that covers road and traffic issues.

The DfT pointed out that busier roads will have a higher number of accidents and a spokesman said: "We are committed to improving road safety across the country and the Safer Roads Fund will provide vital improvements to the 50 most dangerous stretches of roads in England."

None of the 50 most dangerous stretches of road are in Northamptonshire.

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