I was contacted last night by a resident reporting an accident on the B1281 at its junction with Belchford.
At the first opportunity this morning I raised the resident's concerns with the traffic section at the local authority and also with the traffic management office at Durham constabulary. Specifically I requested details of any accident at this location yesterday and also asked for comments on what the authorities believe would be effective in mitigating the risk of further accidents.
I've received a response today from the police and I'll update on progress as soon as I have further details from the local authority:
Hi Rob,
We did not receive a report of any collision from the driver or member of the public but one of our officers came across the scene and it was logged as an incident at 20:57 on 28/06/23 (DHM-28062023-0478) as a single vehicle damage only collision. It appears a public footpath sign was damaged and this was reported by us to DCC. The vehicle was well off the road so recovery is being arranged for today. We have no more details as this is a damage only and will not be recorded on the collision records.
I have reviewed our recorded collision records on the CRASH system from 01/01/19 to present from a point just west of Hardwicke Hall to a point just east of Belchford and have provided an overview below of the 6 collisions recorded:
Wednesday 07/12/22 – 09:15 hrs – Slight Injury
B1281 just west of junction with Belchford
Vehicle 1 (Car) has been travelling eastbound on B1281 from Castle Eden toward Blackhall Colliery and has performed an overtake on 2 vehicles travelling in same direction. On attempting to complete the overtake Vehicle 1 has performed a sudden movement to complete the overtake to prevent going head on with Vehicle 2 (transit van) travelling in opposite direction and has lost control of vehicle hitting roadside furniture before the front offside of Vehicle 2 and coming to a stop.
At the time of the collision the weather was fine, roads were wet/damp and it was daylight.
Main causation factors cited on part of driver of Vehicle 1 as – exceeding speed limit/ aggressive driving/ careless, reckless, in a hurry/ slippery road due to weather.
Tuesday 07/12/21 – 16:45 hrs – Damage Only
B1281 just east of junction with Belchford
Vehicle 1 (Car) has been travelling on B1281 when dog ran out of wooded area straight into front of Vehicle 1. Vehicle 1 hit the dog on the passengers side. Vehicle 1 stopped and the dog got up and ran off.
At the time of the collision the weather was fine and roads were dry.
Wednesday 16/06/21 – 08:25 hrs – Serious Injury
B1281 just east of junction with Belchford
Vehicle 1 (Moped) travelling west on B1281 and collides with a deer. Rider thrown from moped and injured.
At the time of the collision the weather was fine, roads were dry and it was daylight.
Main causation factors cited as – animal in carriageway.
Tuesday 29/12/20 – 08:00 hrs – Damage Only
B1281 just west of Hardwicke Hall junction
Unknown Vehicle 1 (Car) has overtaken Vehicle 2 (car) at speed and collided with Vehicle 2 in the process – Vehicle 1 failed to stop.
At the time of the collision the weather was fine and roads were covered in snow.
Saturday 05/10/19 – 21:45 hrs – Slight Injury
B1281 just east of junction with Belchford
Pedestrian walking eastbound on the north side of carriageway near to grass verge with back to traffic and wearing dark clothing. No street lights present. Vehicle 1 (van) travelling east. Driver V1 states initially had main beam activated, but there has been an unknown oncoming vehicle and because of this has changed to dipped beam. Vehicle 1 then saw at the very last second something blue in carriageway to nearside and heard a bang. Vehicle 1 come to stop further along road where it is illuminated. The nearside door mirror had collided with shoulder of pedestrian knocking him into grass verge.
At the time of the collision the weather was fine, roads were dry and it was dark.
Main causation factors cited as – pedestrian impaired by alcohol, wearing dark clothing at night, failed to judge vehicles path-speed – driver road layout, too close to pedestrian.
Wednesday 03/04/19 – 21:02 hrs – Serious Injury
B1281 just west of Hardwicke Hall junction
Vehicle 1 (car) travelling west on B1281 when vehicle lost control and left carriageway to nearside and collided with a tree causing injury to all occupants.
At the time of the collision the weather was raining, roads were wet/damp and it was dark.
Main causation factors cited as – slippery road due to weather/ tyres illegal, defective or under-inflated/ travelling too fast for conditions/ loss of control/ stolen vehicle.
In addition to the reviewing the recorded collision records I have also taken a look at our incident logs for the period 01/01/22 to present day to ascertain if there is anything in addition to that recorded on our CRASH system and the incident on 28/06/23 and would advise we have 2 other incidents reported as:
26/02/23 – 00:18 – Damage Only (DHM-26022023-0010)
Single vehicle – Car v Tree – vehicle off road
No further details of note.
05/02/23 – 23:39 – Damage Only (DHM-05022023-0480)
Single vehicle loss of control vehicle on side.
No further details of note.
While we of course wish for no collisions to occur at all looking at the causations there is not really anything we can do about the type of collisions involving animals.
So of the 6 recorded on our CRASH system this reduces to 4 for consideration.
Then I would suggest there is little that can be done engineering wise in relation to the one involving a defective and stolen vehicle and the one involving pedestrian under the influence walking in the carriageway in dark clothing where there was a footpath on the other side of the road that could have been used.
Of the remaining 2 involving overtaking at speed while a request to DCC for an assessment of if solid continuous white lines could be implemented through the bends to discourage overtaking manoeuvres could be made, there is no guarantee that this will positively impact on those who choose to deliberately drive in an anti-social manner?
Perhaps DCC could be requested to review the centre hazard marking, edge of carriageway marking, SLOW markings, yellow backed bend warning signs, horse warning signs, Chevron signs and hazard marker posts through the area to ensure they are still clearly visible and fit for purpose as they can get covered by foliage from the hedges at this location and this time of year and the signs can suffer from turning green due to the tree canopy?
Happy to participate in and discussions on this.
Regards
In addition to the correspondence above I have also written to the authorities setting out my own concerns about the dangerous condition of this particular stretch of highway:
Good afternoon,
I was contacted last night by a resident reporting another accident yesterday evening on the B1281 on the edge of Blackhall Colliery.
I've received an initial response from the traffic management office at Durham constabulary which suggests that overgrowth (trees and bushes), lack of line markings in the road and damaged road signage may have been contributory factors.
It was also noted in the police response that several accidents have happened recently at this location during the hours of darkness. It is noted that the stretch of road in question is in complete darkness despite several requests over the years for streetlighting to be installed (please see location plan attached).
I have also attached an image of the severely damaged footpath at this location. I would be grateful if you could record these issues for the attention of the relevant departments at DCC.
Regards,
