‘Someone will be killed’ – Driver’s plea for A63 speed reduction after accident that left her stranded for hours
A shaken-up motorist has appealed for a speed reduction on the "crammed" A63[1] after she was involved in an accident that left her stranded for hours. Janet Porter, 78, was travelling alone and on the way to see friends when she said a van pulled out in front of her from a slip road. She had to jam on her brakes, narrowly missing the vehicle, but another van behind ran into the back of her.
The mum-of-two, who lives in a village on the East Yorkshire/North Lincolnshire border, said it was lucky no one was hurt but that it could have been "so much worse". She said: "I was all right, physically, but it's more the psychological effects. "After it happened I was in floods of tears for about ten minutes, and shaking, I was devastated."
Janet was travelling west away from Hull on Tuesday, May 27, at about 4pm, to go to Leeds when the accident happened at a slip road junction with the dual carriageway, near to the Shell Grand Dale petrol station, at Melton Road, North Ferriby. Janet said a small white van pulled out "quite slowly" in front of her. "The A63 was crammed with fast-moving cars and lorries. "There was nowhere to go, both lanes were busy and I couldn't pull out into the other lane, and I had no option but to brake.
I managed to avoid hitting the van in front but a large van behind ran into me. "There was such a big bang and I felt so shocked. It hit the passenger side rear bumper, wrecking the light and making a very large hole."
Janet said both the other drivers stopped and they, along with Janet in her Skoda Fabia, were able to steer onto the grass verge. "The drivers of the vans were very nice. My car was undriveable and I was there for over four hours before the AA was able to recover my car.
"I was lucky. Unless this speed is restricted, someone will be killed. It could have been a big lorry behind me and I could have been written off, never mind my car."
Janet has written to her local MP, David Davis, asking him to support a reduction to a 50mph speed limit on the road. She said in the letter: "There are only two lanes on the A63 and several slip roads with vehicles joining. "It is not a motorway but many drivers behave as if it is.
Traffic on a three-lane motorway can move out to the outer lanes to allow vehicles to join, but with only two lanes it is more difficult to manage. "It was proved recently that accidents were reduced during the recent road work hold-ups. Drivers need more thinking and braking time.
"It's clear from this incident that common sense doesn't apply so the law needs to be applied. Please help." When Janet spoke to Hull Live, she had been provided with a courtesy car but she had been made "very nervous" by the crash and "daren't drive it".
A spokesperson for National Highways, which is responsible for the route, said: "Safety is our top priority, and we constantly monitor the performance of our network. We have analysed the latest collision data for the A63 around Melton interchange and concluded that the junction is performing well in comparison to other junctions nationally. "The data didn't highlight inappropriate speed as a common contributory factor at this location.
We are confident that the current limit is appropriate for a rural dual carriageway trunk road and are not currently considering a reduction, although this remains under constant review." As part of its network review, National Highways analyses traffic flow data as well as historic collisions. This informs the development and prioritisation of improvement schemes, it said.
"Collision data for our network is continually reviewed and where we find common contributory factors, including inappropriate speed, we explore engineering measures.
This can include geometry changes, road signage or speed reduction / enforcement measures."
A spokesperson at the parliamentary office of Mr Davis said the issue was not something that they would be commenting on at this time.