Warwickshire County Council
Local Authority / Fire Service
Action Taken
• Following notification of the collision, a Team Leader and a Road Safety Engineer from the Traffic and Road Safety Group attended the site with the traffic Management Assistant from Warwickshire and West Mercia Police's Road Safety Team. • At the time of the inspection officers attending agreed that there were no immediate actions that needed to be undertaken. • The County Council undertakes an annual review of all collision cluster sites across the County. (AI summary)
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Dear Mr McGovern REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS UNDER REGULATION 28 CORONERS AND JUSTICE ACT 2009 FOLLOWING INQUEST INTO THE DEATH OF JULIOS CATACHANAS I am writing in response to the concerns raised by your investigation and report of 1st May 2015 into the death of Mr Julios Calachanas. Mr Catachanas died as a result of a road traffic collision which occurred on 23rd December 2014 during the hours of darkness at the junction of the B4035 Campden Road with the A429 Fosseway, known locally as Portobello Crossroads. Warwickshire County Council has carefully considered your report and the matters of concern raised in it, namely:
1. That street lighting was not present at this junction.
2. That consideration should be given to staggering the junction to prevent vehicles travelling along Campden Road from driving straight through Fosseway. Notification of the collision was received by the County Council on 29 December 2014. Following this notification Carolyn Burrows, Team Leader and Lee Williams a Road Safety Engineer, from the Traffic and Road Safety Group attended the site with Ian Connolly, the traffic Management Assistant from Warwickshire and West Mercia Police's Road Safety Team. This site visit is a normal procedure following any fatal road accident. The purpose of the site visit is to ascertain whether for safety reasons there are any immediate actions that need to be taken in respect to the highway and any possible defects and/or improvements that should be carried out without delay. At the time of the inspection officers attending agreed that there were no immediate actions that needed to be undertaken. The County Council undertakes an annual review of all collision cluster sites across the County. A cluster site is defined as a location that has had 6 or more personal injury collisions in the last 3 years. However not all sites are treatable as there are many occasions where there are no patterns to the collisions. Funding of £350,000 has been allocated to casualty reduction schemes across the county for 2015/2016. Lextel Practice Management Standard '“W' INVKSTOX TN PEOPLE l-aw Society Accredited H Au 1 Printed on 100'% recycled paper
As part of the annual cluster site assessment the review of Portobello Crossroads revealed that there had been 11 personal injury collisions in the last 3 years, of which 4 had occurred during the hours of darkness. The assessment identified that there has been a significant increase in the number and severity of collisions occurring at this junction over the last two years. The junction was therefore identified as a cluster site location for the implementation of remedial measures this financial year. Officers have carried out further detailed investigations at the junction and have assessed the potential impact of introducing various remedial measures. Given this investigation, the following actions have been proposed.
• On-line geometric improvements to reduce 'see through’ effect of the side roads
• New signing to highlight the presence of the junction to drivers travelling on both the major and minor arms;
• Road marking improvements to make the junction more conspicuous to drivers travelling on all approaches;
• In view of the number of injury collisions that occurred in the hours of darkness, a street lighting scheme will be implemented to make the junction more visible at night;
• The road studs will also be upgraded to make the layout of the junction more visible at night;
• Provision of central islands to help align vehicles, thus increasing visibility. Islands will also highlight the presence of the junction to drivers.
• Removal of vegetation will be undertaken to improve stopping sight distances;
• The carriageway will be resurfaced to increase skid resistance on approach and through the junction. In our view introducing these measures will significantly reduce the occurrence of personal injury collisions at this junction. It is proposed that the above measures, which are subject to detailed design and consultation, will be implemented this financial year. The County Council has taken very seriously your report and the concerns raised in it. I do hope that through the measures the Council is proposing to implement you, and the family of Mr Catachanas, can be assured of the County Council’s commitment to reducing the number of such tragedies in the future.
1. That street lighting was not present at this junction.
2. That consideration should be given to staggering the junction to prevent vehicles travelling along Campden Road from driving straight through Fosseway. Notification of the collision was received by the County Council on 29 December 2014. Following this notification Carolyn Burrows, Team Leader and Lee Williams a Road Safety Engineer, from the Traffic and Road Safety Group attended the site with Ian Connolly, the traffic Management Assistant from Warwickshire and West Mercia Police's Road Safety Team. This site visit is a normal procedure following any fatal road accident. The purpose of the site visit is to ascertain whether for safety reasons there are any immediate actions that need to be taken in respect to the highway and any possible defects and/or improvements that should be carried out without delay. At the time of the inspection officers attending agreed that there were no immediate actions that needed to be undertaken. The County Council undertakes an annual review of all collision cluster sites across the County. A cluster site is defined as a location that has had 6 or more personal injury collisions in the last 3 years. However not all sites are treatable as there are many occasions where there are no patterns to the collisions. Funding of £350,000 has been allocated to casualty reduction schemes across the county for 2015/2016. Lextel Practice Management Standard '“W' INVKSTOX TN PEOPLE l-aw Society Accredited H Au 1 Printed on 100'% recycled paper
As part of the annual cluster site assessment the review of Portobello Crossroads revealed that there had been 11 personal injury collisions in the last 3 years, of which 4 had occurred during the hours of darkness. The assessment identified that there has been a significant increase in the number and severity of collisions occurring at this junction over the last two years. The junction was therefore identified as a cluster site location for the implementation of remedial measures this financial year. Officers have carried out further detailed investigations at the junction and have assessed the potential impact of introducing various remedial measures. Given this investigation, the following actions have been proposed.
• On-line geometric improvements to reduce 'see through’ effect of the side roads
• New signing to highlight the presence of the junction to drivers travelling on both the major and minor arms;
• Road marking improvements to make the junction more conspicuous to drivers travelling on all approaches;
• In view of the number of injury collisions that occurred in the hours of darkness, a street lighting scheme will be implemented to make the junction more visible at night;
• The road studs will also be upgraded to make the layout of the junction more visible at night;
• Provision of central islands to help align vehicles, thus increasing visibility. Islands will also highlight the presence of the junction to drivers.
• Removal of vegetation will be undertaken to improve stopping sight distances;
• The carriageway will be resurfaced to increase skid resistance on approach and through the junction. In our view introducing these measures will significantly reduce the occurrence of personal injury collisions at this junction. It is proposed that the above measures, which are subject to detailed design and consultation, will be implemented this financial year. The County Council has taken very seriously your report and the concerns raised in it. I do hope that through the measures the Council is proposing to implement you, and the family of Mr Catachanas, can be assured of the County Council’s commitment to reducing the number of such tragedies in the future.