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Council's safety revamp for Llangollen death crash road

Published date: 15 February 2012 |
Published by: Helen Davies


 

SAFETY improvements are to be made on a road where two teenagers were killed near Llangollen.

Dale Williams and his friend Johnathan Cassidy-Jones, both 18, from Ruabon, Wrexham, were killed when the Peugeot car they were travelling in was involved in an accident on the A542 on January 9.

Their friend, Tom Pewtner, also 18, and from Ruabon, was also in the vehicle. He survived but sustained a number of injuries.

Denbighshire Council is to make improvements to the area’s road signs by the end of April.

Simon Clemence, the owner of The Ponderosa Café on the Horseshoe Pass, said he would welcome the sign improvements but thought additional safety measures were still needed.

“There’s certain stretches here which are notoriously bad accident blackspots,” he said.

“There’s one spot towards Ruthin just past our place where there’s a couple of crashes every winter. Some of the corners are very deceptive.”

Mr Clemence said he thought crash barriers should be installed on the road at the blackspots.

“The problem is it’s an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and it could detract from the area if crash barriers are installed,” he said.

“I definitely think you need more crash barriers but only on certain stretches.”

A spokesman for Denbighshire Council said: “Our traffic safety team has recently undertaken a safety review of the Horseshoe Pass and as a result we have identified some traffic sign improvement works.

“In conjunction with these signing works, resurfacing works are also planned for the Horseshoe Pass as part of the routine maintenance programme. It is anticipated that both the signing and resurfacing works will be substantially complete by the end of April.”

She added: “It was a routine, planned safety review that was combined with the standard investigation that we undertake following all fatal collisions.”

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  1. Posted by: Sidecarman at 11:19 on 15 February 2012 Report

    I see that the fencing has been replaced with a similar type. Would money have been well spent by having a crash barrier type that they have in sections on the Pass?

  2. Posted by: if-you-ask-me at 18:34 on 15 February 2012 Report

    A barrier will not save you if you are going fast. Speed cameras and better signs would be better and more effective. We have lost two young lads who were hard working and would have grown up with a trade and a career ahead of them. They would have been an asset to this country and now they have gone. Better informative road signs might have saved that from happening.

  3. Posted by: Y FFin at 21:14 on 15 February 2012 Report

    We are all told when we learn to drive to look ahead and anticipate, but that's not very easy if you are burning the rubber roaring through the Horseshoe Pass. it's not a nice thing to say, but you can always guess the age of the driver, and usually the gender too, when there's a crash on this road. More signs won't make much difference.

  4. Posted by: Roland Cleth at 08:27 on 16 February 2012 Report

    Sad but true, Y Ffin. i-y-a-m, would signs have made a difference to this accident? The boys were familiar with the road.

  5. Posted by: bobtodd at 10:48 on 16 February 2012 Report

    It is very harsh to say but, to be honest hundreds of thousands of drivers manage to get along the road each year without meeting their maker. It is tragic that these boys have died but if they had a lighter right foot then they would be down the pub this weekend with their mates.

  6. Posted by: if-you-ask-me at 20:47 on 16 February 2012 Report

    Speed cameras would make a difference to this road. The authorities have put them on the Trevor road so why not on this road. It would slow people down.

  7. Posted by: oh dear at 08:22 on 17 February 2012 Report

    was speed a factor in this tragic accident?we dont know,but please dont assume that because they were young lads then they MUST of been speeding..speed cameras dont work..the part where they have put them just outside trevor is on a relative straight piece of road..its just a cash cow

 

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