Campaigners have criticised Hertfordshire County Council's lack of action towards improving safety at the notorious A602 Park Way/Charlton Road junction in Hitchin.
This year has seen multiple serious crashes at the junction, with two minor accidents in the last few days alone.
In one of the crashes, 19-year-old Oliver Gatfield tragically died, while his friend Liam Sharpe was seriously injured. A separate accident in February saw another person seriously injured.
Now, campaigners including Bim Afolami (MP for Hitchin and Harpenden), Phil Jarvis (Chair of the Charlton Society) and Holly and Sophie Sharpe (sisters of Liam) have reiterated their calls for Hertfordshire County Council to take urgent action to make the junction safer.
They believe measures such as a reduced speed limit, a ban on right hand turns onto the A602, or turning the junction into a roundabout could be effective.
A feasibility study for safety improvements on Charlton Road itself is being conducted, funded through county Cllr Keith Hoskins' local budget, though its target date of March 31 has now passed.
Earlier this year, Mr Afolami called on the council to immediately reduce the speed limit on this section of the A602 to 30mph, pending further assessment. The council declined to do so.
Mr Afolami told the Comet it was "no surprise" to hear of two more collisions on the road this week, and continued: "My calls for an emergency speed limit reduction have been ignored, the long-awaited feasibility study has stalled, and the dozens and dozens of residents who submitted their concerned testimonies to me have been betrayed by the cumbersome process to make this obviously hazardous roads safer.
"I am meeting with Highways next month to show them why 50mph speed limit on this road is madness, and I hope that this will lead to a more meaningful intervention."
Holly and Sophie Sharpe, who launched a petition earlier this year calling for changes, said they are "deeply saddened" to hear about the other accidents on the road.
They described it as "renowned for being dangerous", and stressed that, while the cause of Liam and Oliver's accident is currently unknown, "this shouldn't take away from highlighting the immediate changes that need to be made to this road in order to prevent families from having to experience the same heartbreak as our families did".
"We urge anyone and everyone to take the time to sign and share our petition in the hopes that this road is addressed with immediate action.
"We need to stand united until an effective and safe change is made."
Holly and Sophie's petition includes suggestions such as reconfiguring the road layout, or adding traffic lights, cameras, and crash barriers.
Mr Jarvis, meanwhile, is leading the Charlton Society's push for changes that local residents have been calling for for years.
He said that residents of Charlton have "long standing concerns about the safety of both this junction and the narrow overgrown pedestrian footpath that approaches it".
They met with Mr Afolami and council officials in March 2023, when they were "assured that a feasibility study would assess options for improvements".
However, "nothing has been forthcoming ... despite further tragedies", and emails from the council's highways department to concerned residents have said that the junction is not considered a priority for further investigation.
Mr Jarvis is calling on the council to "act now before further tragedies occur", with suggestions for "simple, low cost measures that could be introduced with little delay" including a reduced speed limit, preventing right turns from Charlton Road onto the A602, and footpath clearance to restore the full width of the path.
A previous safety campaign was run by residents between 2010 and 2012, with Paul O'Shaughnessy finding that of 53,000 vehicles using the route per week at that time, 12,000 were travelling at prosecutable levels.
He called for measures such as a roundabout, resurfacing and speed calming to be introduced.
Some changes were eventually made in 2014, after eight people were injured in crashes at the junction over the three-year period up to December 2012. The county council spent almost £90k modifying the junction to prevent motorists turning right from Park Way into Charlton Road.
In a letter to a resident earlier this year, Herts Highways said that their analysis of collisions causing injuries in the county had identified the A602/Charlton Road junction as a "hazardous site", but their review was unable to find a "collision pattern".
A spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council said: “We understand why residents are concerned about the safety of the Charlton Road/Willow Lane cut-though and its junctions with the A505 and A602, particularly following recent serious accidents, and we are monitoring the location closely.
“We have already implemented several improvements at the junctions, which have more than halved the number of accidents taking place, and we are awaiting the conclusions of a feasibility study on what additional measures might be possible.
“Unfortunately, not all accidents can be prevented by physical changes to the roads, and with limited funding available we need to focus our safety improvements on the most hazardous sites across the county, where they will make the most difference. We therefore can’t promise that we will be able to make any further changes at this location.
“We will continue to monitor the situation closely and update residents on any developments.”
They did not respond when asked why they had rejected Mr Afolami's calls for an immediate reduction in the speed limit.
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