The mother of a fatal accident victim on a notorious Ryedale road today welcomed plans to improve it - but said it should have been done long ago.

Highways chiefs are proposing more road signs, widening bends and improved visibility in a safety package to slow motorists and cut accidents on the section of the A64 near Malton which includes Golden Hill.

Susan Atkinson, the mother of 15-year-old Becky Atkinson who was killed in an accident at Golden Hill in November along with the 17-year-old driver Thomas Leng, said: "It is good news that they are finally doing something with that section of road, but it is too late for Becky.

"Perhaps if they had done this earlier they would still be here," added Mrs Atkinson, of Thornton-le-Dale.

The teenagers from the village were killed when their car collided with another vehicle. This week a woman was injured in an accident on the road. The improvement plan, unveiled at a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council's Ryedale Area Committee yesterday, is due to be completed by the end of March. It does not include any plans to close the crawler lane up the hill.

The 3km section of road, which runs from the Malton bypass to Whitwell, has been under close scrutiny from the Highways Agency because there have been 47 accidents on it since 1995.

Agency spokesman Mark Schofield said: "Though most of the accidents have happened at Golden Hill, the problem is more to do with the whole section of the road and that is how we have addressed it."

"At the entrance and exit to Malton from the A64 we will have extra signs and chevrons while red surfacing will indicate that motorists should slow down.

"Visibility will be improved by having the west bound road near the Malton entrance converted from double to single carriageway earlier. At the Low Hutton junction we have already put in chevrons and we are improving signage - wherever possible we will be widening the carriageway to allow motorists more space to negotiate bends."

He said at Golden Hill accidents tended to happen because cars went out of control - slowing traffic speeds would hopefully reduce accidents.

He added: "The hill is steep and this is not an ideal situation."

Updated: 11:27 Thursday, January 11, 2001