A Royston mum and road safety campaigner has said she won’t stop fighting for improvements, after three serious crashes on the A505 between Baldock and Royston in just over a week.
Lynsey Langdon from Royston has been campaigning for improvements on the stretch since her policeman husband Greig broke his back in a crash in July last year.
The mother-of-three told the Crow: “I’m not going to stop campaigning because something needs to be done.
“I will keep pushing, every report of an accident I send to the council, and I won’t stop – for what my family has been through and for every other motorist who uses that road.
“My husband was in a wheelchair for four months after he broke his back, and used crutches for a further three months. He only went back to work in January this year to take on ‘light duties’ in an office.
“He has to drive past the scene of his crash every day, he has had flashbacks and has been diagnosed with PTSD – which we are still getting used to because we don’t know what will trigger him.”
The Langdons have children Jack, 14, Harry, 10 and seven-year-old Isla. Lynsey said Greig’s accident has had a big impact on the whole family, and that she feels she needs counselling herself.
Lynsey said: “I’m having to fight for counselling, because it has changed us. We’ll never be the same again.
“It’s not safe. It was safe when it was designed 40 years ago, but there’s so many more cars on the road now.
“Now the schools are back there will be more cars on the road, it’s colder and darker so there will be more accidents.
“It’s only luck that there hasn’t been a death yet, there has been further up the A505 into South Cambridgeshire.
“We are raising awareness. I get so many messages from people who are now aware of the problems and have near misses or accidents themselves.
“They need to make the speed limit 50mph, make big signs so that the no entry is clear at the gaps so people don’t drive the wrong way down the carriageways, and not allow 40-tonne lorries to use the gaps and have their trailers stick out onto the carriageway.”
A feasibility study started earlier this year, but the results are not likely to be known before the end of the year.
County councillor Steve Jarvis, who represents the Royston West and Rural division, told the Crow: “It clearly is not a safe road, particularly the turning for Odsey, and many others are just not satisfactory.
“Even when there are no serious accidents, I hear of so many near misses.
“There are calls to close the gaps between the carriageways, but this would mean someone living in the villages would have to travel up to Royston and back to get through and that’s not practical.
“I have been told that it will take until the end of the year for the results of the camera surveys done in January to result in any proposals which might include lower speed limits, closing some gaps or perhaps a roundabout.
“In the meantime the ‘no entry’ signs are going to be illuminated to try to reduce the number of vehicles that turn onto the wrong carriageway at night.
“Although this is a small step in the right direction, it is not good enough considering the number of accidents.
“I will try to get proposals to do something more effective brought forward.”
A county council spokeswoman said: “We understand that this issue is of concern to local residents and motorists. We would like to reassure them that the council is carrying out a feasibility study to assess this particular stretch of road. Throughout this study, we will collect a large amount of data so we can issue the most informed recommendations about what changes should be made to the highway. We expect that the report will be concluded by the end of this financial year. We also plan to install illuminated ‘no entry’ signs at side junctions along the A505. We would like to thank residents for their patience.”
For more on Lynsey’s A505 campaign search ‘Make The A505 Safer’ on Facebook.
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