'999 crews would welcome extra lane on A34' (From Herald Series)
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'999 crews would welcome extra lane on A34'
10:30am Tuesday 29th January 2013 in News
ROADS police said they would welcome another lane on the A34 to help them reach accidents quicker following another crash.
A three-vehicle collision blocked the road southbound between North Abingdon and Marcham at about 3pm on Sunday.
A man had to be cut out of a vehicle and the tailbacks caused major problems for the emergency services attempting to reach the scene.
Insp Colin Clark, from Thames Valley Police’s Roads Policing Unit said: “There are problems with the A34. You only have two lanes, a barrier and no hard shoulder.
“Whether it’s three lanes or four or five wide, that’s not my choice, but we do have to react whenever there is a problem and it’s so difficult. It’s the same with fatal accidents as with minor shunts, the tailbacks build so quickly. We don’t take decisions to close the road lightly.”
Recently Oxford West and Abingdon MP Nicola Blackwood invited Transport Minister Stephen Hammond to her constituency to see the problem first hand.
