THE busy stretch of the A64 near Bilbrough Top has been a death trap for far too long.

Big improvements were made several years ago when a flyover was built and gaps in the central reservation closed.

That prevented cars turning across the opposite carriageway. But a small number of pedestrians have insisted on trying to cross the road on foot, presumably to save walking to the flyover, but sometimes with predictably tragic consequences. A pedestrian was killed only last November.

There have been regular calls for safety improvements, including suggestions that the speed limit on this stretch could be lowered to 50mph.

Sadly, a ‘safety summit’ this week in which Selby MP Nigel Adams and Selby councillor Richard Musgrave met with Highways Agency representatives seems to have resolved little.

The Agency says its engineers have not recommended reducing the speed limit, and that its figures show the frequency of accidents is less than half the national average for such a road.

That is to miss the point, however. As the Agency itself admits, it is not the number of accidents that is the problem, it is the severity of those that occur.

Cllr Musgrave said he felt frustrated after the meeting. We share that feeling. We are not convinced that lowering the speed limit to 50mph is the answer, but there is a definite need for some kind of new safety measure to stop the senseless loss of life on this road is stopped.