Don Campbell, of Vicarage Hill, Dartmouth, writes: I am forwarding you the letter below sent to Devon Highways and our county councillor in the vain hope that something might be done to widen and improve the main road into Dartmouth, particularly at Norton Park, which is probably the most dangerous short stretch of road in the UK. Anything you can do to focus attention on this problem would be good.
Sir, I have just heard about the accident this morning that is blocking the road out of Dartmouth at Norton. I also had an accident at this point last Friday when a white builders' van sideswiped my motorhome in the narrow bit of road just beyond the entrance to Norton Park, and I have witnessed many other incidents of lost mirrors and damage to vehicles at this same spot. Frankly, having driven a large vehicle over 200,000 miles in the USA and all over Europe, I have come to the conclusion that this has to be one of the most accident-prone short stretches of road in the whole of Europe. The road was redesignated an A road some years ago despite the fact that there are many places on it that are not wide enough to warrant it being classed as an A road. Widening this road should be a priority-one task before there are any more serious accidents, as larger and larger vehicles and coaches continue to access Dartmouth. The very fact that many of these vehicles are unable to use the ferries should give improvements to this road an even higher priority. I hope we hear some news of funds being made available for urgent road improvements to this vital access road into and out of Dartmouth very soon.