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18
Apr
Cost of A61 road safety measures revealed as speed signs go up
North Yorkshire Council has revealed the cost of safety measures implemented on the A61 between Harrogate and Killinghall following a fatal collision.
Lucjan Wilk died after he got off a bus and was struck by a car as he crossed the A61 near Knox Mill Lane in November 2023.
The incident reignited calls to improve safety on the A61 between Harrogate and Ripon, where there have been five fatalities in the last two years.
The other four all lost their lives in the South Stainley area of the A61. Traffic lights reducing the speed limit to 50mph have been installed between Ripley and Ripon this week.
The Stray Ferret submitted a freedom of information request to the council about the measures taken between New Park roundabout and Killinghall, where streetlights have been erected, a bus stop relocated and new signs installed in the wake of Mr Wilk's death.
The council's response said the streetlights cost £30,000, which included trench and cable work as well as management costs.
The new northbound bus stop on the A61.
Construction work on the new bus stop.
The final cost of relocating the northbound bus stop, and removing the southbound one, is still not known, but the council said it was expected to be about £7,000.
A further £6,491 has been spent on road signs.
The council said it was aware of eight personal injury collisions on the A61 between Killinghall and Harrogate since the start of 2019. One was fatal, two were classed as ‘serious’ and five were categorised as ‘slight’.
Mr Wilk’s daughter Pauline Burton has led calls for the speed limit to be reduced there from 40mph to 30mph.
She said:
Nothing is going to change unless there’s a 30mph speed limit. When you see a “30” sign, you automatically slow down – that’s the only thing that would help in this area.
The council previously told us the road "does not fit the criteria for a 30mph zone".
We asked for the reason. The reply said:
In accordance with Department for Transport Circular 01/13, the current 40mph speed limit is appropriate. A 30mph speed limit is not appropriate because of the visual appearance, absence of direct frontage development, it doesn’t meet the village criteria in the circular and the existing mean speeds are too high. Furthermore, North Yorkshire Police do not support any reduction to 30mph here.
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