A MAJOR safety review of the ‘dangerous’ A34 has been announced by the Government, with ministers looking at whether the road should be a motorway.

The review was announced by Roads Minister John Hayes after a fresh outcry from campaigners over the dual carriageway’s sixth fatality of the year.

They have called for urgent action along the route, which in August alone claimed the lives of a mother and four children.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Hayes told MPs: “I offer my condolences and sympathies to those affected by those dreadful events. 

“But although sympathy matters, support matters more. And it is really important for those people and others that we show support.

Oxford Mail:

  • Roads Minister John Hayes speaking in Westminster Hall

“I think Disraeli said, ‘Justice is truth in action’ and we need action.

“I have been thinking about this for some time and feel we do need to look at safety on the A34.”

The minister also promised ‘a round table meeting’ on November 22 involving activists, MPs and Highways England, saying ‘urgent work’ on the road before 2020 could include new gantries, electric signs and speed cameras.

But he added: “I want to go further than that, too.

“The call has been made in this debate for a still more strategic piece of work and the member for Henley, [John Howell], described it as a ‘motorway’. 

“I think we do need to think that through.

“The significance of this road is not lost on me and we may be able to look at that still more fundamental piece of work.”

The pledges were last night hailed as a ‘huge’ breakthrough by campaigners, but they vowed to continue pressing for urgent action. 

Oxford Mail:

  • A crash on the A34 at Hinksey Hill on August 25 injured 13 people

A34 Action Group spokeswoman Cathryn Millward said: “Too many people have died on this road and we cannot rest on our laurels.

“We need to have a plan that does something right now.”

Mr Hayes’ announcements came during a debate called by Wantage MP Ed Vaizey, who warned the A34 was ‘no longer fit for purpose’ and over-capacity. He said it carried almost 80,000 vehicles every day. 

Mr Vaizey said: “It is a dangerous road. And delays and accidents that happen regularly are having a significant economic impact.

“Action is long overdue and the need to urgently improve road safety alone would justify a significant investment.”

The fresh outcry over safety on the dual carriageway came in August. A multi-vehicle pile-up on August 25 at Hinksey Hill injured 13 people – including three-year-old Isla Wiggin, who died in hospital.

In another crash just two weeks earlier at East Ilsley, Tracy Houghton, her sons Ethan, 13, and Josh, 11, and her partner’s 11-year-old daughter Amiee Goldsmith, from Bedfordshire, died in an eight-vehicle crash. Twelve others were injured. 

Oxford Mail:

  • Wantage MP Ed Vaizey, who called the A34 debate in Parliament

Mr Vaizey was joined in the debate by Henley MP Mr Howell, Banbury MP Victoria Prentis and Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, with Oxford West and Abingdon MP Nicola Blackwood having spoken privately to Mr Hayes beforehand.

Mr Smith said commitments by Highways England, which said improvements would come in 2020, were ‘simply not good enough’.

He added: “Measures need to be started now if the risk of further accidents is to be reduced.

“It needs to be a motorway standard to guarantee the safety and capacity that we all want to see.”

The review was welcomed by Oxfordshire County Council leader Ian Hudspeth, who said: “As a key transport artery through Oxfordshire, the safety concerns and capacity issues of the A34 need to be addressed urgently to mitigate the serious and all too often tragic accidents that have occurred.”

Speaking afterwards, Mr Vaizey added: “It was great to have that announcement and I was not expecting it.

“Hopefully in November we can cover what realistic action we can take in detail.”