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The deadly St Albans road that cyclists fear and has left peopleparalysed - LONG



 
 
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Old July 7th 20, 05:17 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Simon Mason[_6_]
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Default The deadly St Albans road that cyclists fear and has left peopleparalysed - LONG

QUOTE:
When you speak to residents living around Redbourn Road there's a dominant theme - it's dangerous.

The A5183 links Redbourn and St Albans but it has long been considered an accident blackspot by those who use it.

Since 1980 there have been 18 tragic deaths, including a major crash in October 2019 that claimed the lives of two people.

But that's not all as there have been several incidents where people have been left injured, and even paralysed, as a result of collisions on the road.. Some cyclists simply refuse to use it at all as a result.

That's why, with the help of local councillor Annie Brewster, a campaign is up and running to seek funding from the government's emergency active travel scheme to address the problem.

Those backing the plan want to see a segregated pop-up cycle lane created to make the road far safer for cyclists. As part of that, it's also hoped the measures would help slow drivers down.

For some, however, the dangerous nature of the road has already had an irreversible impact on their lives. Paula Craig MBE was left paralysed after an accident on Redbourn Road.

The road has a botched and chequered history and is a constant worry for those who live nearby and for those who use it.

One person who knows the dangers of the road more than most is elite athlete Paula Craig MBE who was hit by a car and sent flying of her bike back in 2001.

She was left paralysed from the waist down following the collision in which she was clipped by an elderly driver with poor vision.

Had he gone any faster then Paula, who was 37 at the time, would almost certainly be dead.

“On the face of it, it seemed like an open road so ironically we thought it was a good road to cycle on," she said.

“The guy that hit me didn’t have his glasses on.

“He was sort of using the curb (SIC)as a guide because if he looked up he couldn’t really see.

“Fortunately - because that part was a 60mph road, which is a fast road - they think he was going about 37mph because he couldn’t see.

“All those things worked in my favour. When he hit me he would’ve killed me if he was doing 60mph that’s for sure."

Paula, who recently celebrated her 57th birthday, was the first woman to compete in the London Marathon as a runner and wheelchair athlete, running a sub-three-hour time in the early 2000s.

She worked in the Met Police for 31 years, becoming Detective Inspector and, in 2005, was awarded an MBE for her services to the police in the New Year Honour’s List.

She was an experienced cyclist and was training for the World Championships at the time of the crash, and her traumatic experience is proof that if someone with her expertise ended up paralysed then novice cyclists are arguably vulnerable as well.

Paula, who lived in Hemel Hempstead at the time of the accident and now lives in Oxhey Village, says her memories of the day are still as vivid 19 years later.

"I just remember an impact," she added.

"It’s just bang on your head. I remember floating and seeing the stars.

"I can almost remember thinking ‘Oh my God, something massive has just happened and I’m going to wake up in a minute'.

"Then I opened my eyes, and I’d obviously lost consciousness. I have that memory in my subconscious of floating.

“You’re in shock. I can’t walk.

“From a cycle lane point of view, and from my experience, I do get frustrated because I know a lot of drivers don’t realise that it’s actually in the highway code that cyclists go side-by-side. You’ve only got to look at social media and people say ‘Damn cyclists going side-by-side’.

"I had a helmet, thank God, and I even had a fluorescent jacket in my back pocket. I had every safety feature you would think of.

“Why shouldn’t a family be able go along with their kids on a cycle lane and not be worried that somebody is going to wipe them out?

"We’re encouraged to get out and cycle and really this should be safer than the back lanes where cars are going to hug the hedge.

“The more protection for cyclists [the better]. It might not sound lucky because I was paralysed, but I was lucky. So many cyclists are killed through no fault of their own."

"You never think your loved one will walk out of the door and never come back"
Whitney Hughes (left) launched a petition to make Redbourn Road safer after her mum, Gillian Williams, tragically lost her life in a car accident

While Paula sees herself as being lucky to have survived, some people, sadly, aren't as fortunate.

On October 9, 2019 at 11.45pm, Gillian Williams was driving her Peugeot car when she was involved in a crash with a Mercedes-Benz.

The 55-year-old tragically died, as did the driver of the Mercedes, Anthony Southwood, who was aged 72.

Gillian's daughter, Whitney, started a campaign earlier this year for the road to be made safer and for street lights and speed cameras to be installed.

In just two weeks, it had been signed over 3,000 times.

At the time, Whitney told HertsLive: "Since my mum's death there have been three accidents again on the road with one car that overturned.

"I understand accidents happen but this just isn't OK.

"My mum was just one of those people who was always happy and she was always cheering people up and celebrating life.

"It's been surreal and, at times, it's hard to believe what happened. You never think your loved one will walk out of the door and never come back. It's hard to grasp that.

"I have an amazing support network around me and they've been unreal, they're just amazing people.

"I don't want anymore families to have to go through what I experienced and if I can help prevent that I will."

Annie Brewster is campaigning for the road to be made safer for cyclists

Harpenden Rural County Councillor, Annie Brewster, is now campaigning to have a new and safely segregated cycle lane installed on the A5183 between St Albans and Redbourn.

The Department of (SIC)Transport’s £250m Emergency Active Travel Fund is the first stage of a £2bn investment, and part of a wider £5bn fund for cycling and buses, that was announced in February.

It's hoped that funding will be made available to make Redbourn Road safer for commuting cyclists and the wider public.

Cllr Brewster, who is also the County Council’s Deputy Executive Member for Public Health and Prevention, said: "One of the main reasons is it's a Roman road.

"It's very straight, which is one of the problems, and it's very wide. When it was the A5, effectively it had three lanes where one could overtake on the middle lane.

"What happens is motorists get on that bit of road and open up. They also don't concentrate that greatly, so if there's a cyclist in the road it's so easy to miss them and actually hit them.

"With Covid-19 there's been a 70 per cent rise in people cycling. One can't buy a bicycle in the whole of the UK at the moment, and we want to grab that new habit that people have got and now give them safe routes so that they can actually get to our major cities, for work and school, and also for health and well-being.

"It's eco, it helps the environment, but it's got to be safe for people to cycle on." Redbourn Road has two very sharp corners and it is known to be an incredibly dark road

Cllr Brewster says putting in new cycle paths is incredibly expensive but she hopes that this spot - which has been proved to be dangerous by the number of fatalities and accidents recorded - gets the attention it deserves.

The road is also a great link to other parts of Herts. It's believed that such a cycle lane would link up the 14km Nickey Line, which is part of the Oxford to Welwyn Garden City National Cycle Network route, to the 9km 'Green Ring' around St Albans.

The £1m Green Ring, which opened in 2018, already links cyclists to both the city’s stations and intersects the 10.5km Alban Way that continues all the way to Hatfield.

Cllr Brewster says she hopes they'll be given the go-ahead to help make the road safer.

"What's exciting about this government grant is they're looking for almost immediate, segregated pop-up cycle lanes, and there aren't many roads in Hertfordshire - particularly in the St Albans district - where we're very Roman and Medieval, that could accommodate this sort of pop-up structure," she added.

"I'm really confident, if we can get the money from the government, that this will be one of the top candidates for that to happen."

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