LincsOnline data from police reveals number of crashes on A1 in South Lincolnshire and Rutland as Rutland and Stamford MP pushes for improvements

The number of crashes on the ‘death trap’ A1 has been revealed as a campaign for improvements continues.

There have been more than 230 crashes on Lincolnshire’s 21-mile stretch of the A1 in the past year, data from a Freedom of Information request submitted by LincsOnline, has revealed.

Almost every other day the main road is blocked by crashes which have an impact not only on those involved, but cause closures, result in the delays and take up emergency services’ time.

Broken down vehicles, obstructions on the road or even slow moving traffic also add to the disruption.

During the 12-month period up to the end of September 2024, Lincolnshire Police received 232 calls reporting crashes on its section of the A1 between South Witham and Long Bennington.

In that time there were three fatal crashes on the 21-mile stretch of road.

A further eight incidents involved serious injuries and 50 resulted in minor injuries, as well as 171 prangs which were recorded as damage only.

Friday is the day with the highest number of crashes with 42 recorded throughout the year.

The weekend has the least - with 26 crashes on Saturdays and 27 on Sundays.

Richard Davies (Con), the Lincolnshire County Councillor responsible for highways, is among those campaigning for improvements and has branded the latest figures as “terrifying”.

He said: “I think what it does show is how serious of an issue it is - it is not an imagined risk.

“People are dying every year and there are injuries every week.

“The failure from the Government to do something about it is almost a crime.”

While roads are usually maintained and upgraded by local councils, the A1 is the responsibility of the Government’s National Highways as it is considered such a major route.

Despite election promises by MPs and pleas from local residents for upgrades, the A1 remains a hotspot for accidents and Coun Davies does not believe National Highways is ‘taking it seriously’.

“These are figures they would have been aware of,” Coun Davies said.

“They are worse than expected but not a surprise. We know it’s bad but they are still not doing anything about it.”

The councillor believes upgrading the A1 to motorway standard is overdue and that work needs to be done to address ‘engineering problems’, which have resulted in lorries tipping over.

He is urging residents with concerns to continue to lobby their MPs and local county councillors.

Among those to experience the dangers of the A1 first-hand is Lisa Lord from Collyweston, who was involved in a three-vehicle crash on Friday (November 1).

Lisa, who was driving home from Lincoln, describes how a driver attempted to cross the southbound carriageway into the central reservation crossing point near Great Ponton.

She slammed on her brakes but collided with the vehicle and was ‘catapulted’ into the northbound carriageway where a minibus crashed into her orange Land Rover, pushing it 50ft down the slip road.

“I thought I was going to die. It was unbelievable,” Lisa said.

She was blue-lighted to hospital where doctors echoed her surprise that she had managed to walk away without serious injuries.

Lisa, who ‘always hated the A1’, has had and witnessed many near misses and believes shutting crossing points could prevent accidents.

“It is a death trap,” she said.

In the past year on Rutland’s 11-mile stretch of the A1 officers have attended nine crashes - one which led to serious injury and two to slight.

Cambridgeshire Police has recorded 15 crashes between Stamford and Alwalton during the past year, although data from the force’s recording system differs from Lincolnshire and Rutland as it only includes statistics from crashes involving death or injury.

Alicia Kearns, Conservative MP for Rutland and Stamford, set up the A1 MPs working group in 2020, which has helped to secure safety upgrades at five points along the A1 from the Tinwell junction to the Colsterworth interchange.

Earlier this year National Highways also committed to and started a review of 57 of the crossing points on the A1 between Stamford and Blyth.

But Mrs Kearns believes much more work still needs to be done to improve the safety of the road.

She has launched a petition calling on the Government and National Highways to improve the safety of the A1 between Stamford and Little Ponton which has received almost 1,000 signatures.

The MP knows first-hand the difficulties drivers face on the A1 as she uses the route regularly on the school run and to go shopping, but also wants to hear directly from residents.

“It’s important as an MP to not just go off your own experiences but to listen to residents,” she said.

Mrs Kearns is holding a public meeting next Friday (November 15) from 6pm to 7.30pm at South Witham Village Hall for residents to put forward their suggestions for A1 improvements.

These suggestions will be fed back to National Highways when officers join Mrs Kearns at the beginning of December on a drive up and down the A1 where she will highlight the issues between Grantham and Wittering.

She said: “The A1 is failing us as a critical artery for our country. Short slip roads, dangerous central reservation crossings and poorly designed junctions put our communities at risk every day.”

We previously asked LincsOnline readers what would be their top priority to make the A1 safer.

Almost a quarter of people who responded to the poll said their priority would be closing the crossing points.

National Highways programme development manager, Ian Doust, said: “We always take safety very seriously which is why we are undertaking studies into gap closures on the A1 and exploring other improvement opportunities.

“But it is important that we capture the context and patterns of incidents along the length of the A1 so we can fully understand the causation factors and take meaningful and informed action rather than commit taxpayers’ money to plans that will not provide effective solutions.

“These gaps are often the main access point to villages and towns from the A1 so we are looking carefully at the purpose of each one, exploring how much the gap is used, what alternative arrangements could be put in place and evaluating the potential consequences of any proposal to close any of those gaps.”

He added that the study is in the early phases.

Since 2019, £4.3 million has been allocated for upgrades to the section between Grantham and Stamford.

The words ‘slow’ could be painted onto the road between Little Ponton and Tickencote as part of planned upgrades by National Highways.

The improvements also include changes to existing signs, new warning signs, the installation of road studs at unilluminated locations and junctions, and resurfacing.

National Highways has been contacted for a comment.

What do you think should be done to make the A1 safer? Let us know in the comments.