Re: A435 road traffic accident near Portway last night

I can't see anything reported.

The issue there is when the Jn 3 traffic roundabout was upgraded in 2019 the speed limit for the first half mile of the A435 was reduced to 50mph for about the first half mile after the junction presumably to give traffic a chance to merge safely and lorries to accelerate but a lot people either aren't aware of the change or choose to ignore it so you have some traffic at 50mph and some at 70+. The speed limit is signed but I believe they could probably make it more obvious so people can't argue that they didn't know.

Mike Hailwood, the motorcycle and F1 racer, was killed on that stretch of road.

On Saturday 21 March 1981, Hailwood set off in his Rover SD1 with his children Michelle and David to collect some fish and chips. As they returned along the A435 Alcester Road through Portway, Warwickshire, near their home in Tanworth-in-Arden, a lorry made an illegal turn through the barriers onto the central reservation, and their car collided with it. Michelle, aged nine, was killed instantly. Mike and David were taken to hospital, where Mike died two days later from severe internal injuries. He was 40 years old. David survived with minor injuries. The lorry driver was fined £100.

There was also recently a serious accident between Jn 3 and the Wythall Island

[www.midlandsairambulance.com]

The A435 was made dual in the early ,70s but the amount of traffic it carries due to the M42 and the expansion of Redditch must be way up from what it was designed for. All the junctions onto/ off the road are archaic in design and not suitable for modern traffic with short acceleration/ deceleration lanes and tight turns,