'Dangerous' road needs widening, lorry driver says

A major road is very dangerous and should be widened to make it safer, an experienced lorry driver has said.

Dave Marshall, of BSB Transport, described the A15 north of Lincoln as "very narrow and not very level" in places.

His comments come after two drivers were killed in a collision on the road on Christmas Eve.

Lincolnshire County Council said it was considering improvements to the road, but pointed out that it was not among the 10 most dangerous in the county.

The single-carriageway road, which runs between Lincoln and the M180 near Scunthorpe, often sees traffic bound to and from the Humber ports.

BSB Transport, which is based in Stallingborough, has been operating for 20 years.

Mr Marshall said: "My message to the council is, widen it or put a new road in.

"It's very narrow, and not very level, if you touch the edge, that's it, you're in the ditch.

"For an inexperienced driver it's very dangerous, and particularly for foreign drivers who have left-hand drive. They find it very difficult to judge the space."

John Rusted, a road traffic accident investigator with four decades of experience, agreed that the road could be tricky to negotiate.

"The verges are very soft and the drop off from the actual structure of the carriageway is very dramatic," he said.

"The heavy commercial vehicles, once they're off there, just get dragged into the verges and it's not on to flat land, it's into quite deep depressions at the sides of the road," he said.

However, Mr Rusted stopped short of calling the road unsafe.

"It's bordering on being beyond fit for accommodating all the heavy commercial traffic it receives," he added.

The council denied any suggestion that the A15 was more dangerous than other roads in the county.

Councillor Richard Davies, the highways portfolio holder, said: "While there have been issues on the road, it's certainly not one of our hotspots in terms of accidents."

However, he said the authority was looking at data from crashes last year to determine whether there were "any particular locations where specific things can be done".

"But realistically, we have to be careful where we spend money because we have to get maximum value," he added.

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