Shocking M40 statistics

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the horrific accident that began the year of carnage on the M40.

On May 31, 2007, three people were killed and 11 were injured in a three vehicle pile up. The mother of one of those killed this week branded the road disgusting' and said there should be a far greater police presence on the motorway).

Since May 31, six more people have died in a series of seven accidents that have blighted the stretch of road. An elderly pedestrian was also killed as he walked across the motorway.

Beaconsfield Fire Station describes the M40 as "the principal life risk" in the area it covers.

Statistics from Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service refer to incidents between junctions 1 and 6 of the M40 to which firefighters were called.

They show that during 2007 the fire service was summoned to 75 traffic collisions.

This was a significant jump from 2006, which saw firefighters tackle 54 collisions. And the figures for 2000 show there were just 31 traffic collisions that the service was called to.

But Fraser Pearson, spokesman for Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue, noted that firefighters were not called to all collisions.

He said: "Generally only those where it is believed a person or people are physically or medically trapped and need to be released by firefighters using hydraulic cutting gear."

Just three weeks ago, on May 9, another collision, involving three vehicles, left one man in a coma with serious head injuries and caused the road to be shut for several hours.

Afterwards, firefighters spoke of their concern that gridlocked drivers were seen wandering along the hard shoulder of the M40, while emergency crews were trying to save lives. They feared more accidents could be caused as 999 vehicles tried to use the lane for access.

Police and road management groups say the road has not been to blame for the series of collisions, but some are not so sure.

Ken Edwards, spokesman for M40 Chiltern Environmental Group, said: "Continued reassurances from the Highways Agency and police that the road itself is not associated become less and less convincing as time goes by."

But other organisations that work to maintain the road say the stretch itself is not the root cause.

James Wright, press officer for the Highways Agency, said: "We said last year that we did take a look into accidents on the M40, particularly the stretch just going into London, and particularly any incident that results in death or serious injury.

"It tends to be caused by things like driver error, excess speed, things like that."

He added that the agency had made funding bids for safety packages, including measures such as chevrons on the road surface to encourage driver to keep a safe distance from each other. There have also been calls to improve the safety between lanes, by replacing the metal barriers with concrete versions.

Paul Goodman, MP for Wycombe, has raised concerns over the safety of the road at Parliament.

Dan Campsall, spokesman for Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership, thought the number of fatalities in the road over the last 12 months did not reflect the safety record of the road as a whole.

He said: "It was unrepresentative of that stretch of road in the last few years - in a sense it was a freak peak."

He added the motorway service area being built on the A355, near junction 2, Beaconsfield, would offer drivers a much needed break from the road, and hopefully improve matters.

He said: "Certainly the analysis seemed to show that driver fatigue was very highly represented in collisions and plans are progressing on the driver area - we certainly welcome that."

He explained that other measures were being taken to improve driver safety.

Mr Campsall said: "Our road safety constables are doing more work with HGVs - some of the issues we have seen are collisions involving HGVs, which tend to be much more prevalent on the major trunk roads.

"Our constables have been trained how to conduct goods vehicles checks and are working much more closely with VOSA.

"We're trying to take this forward with the Highways Agency actively, and our discussions are continuing."