THE man who was first on the scene of a fatal crash on the A64 has given his backing to our campaign to stop the carnage on the road.

Keith Hall, 37, drives along the road regularly working for York firm Lightning Transport Group.

On Monday night he was following close behind a car which smashed into a lorry at the Colton Lane End junction, killing Aberford woman Margaret Green.

Now he has backed the Evening Press campaign to close the gaps in the central reservation.

"I was in the car behind this lady and did all I could to help but that was very little because she was so poorly," he said.

"I fail to see why we have to put up with vehicles turning right like that.

"I went home on Monday night and couldn't drive because I felt so sick. I want to put my name to the campaign to close those gaps."

Mrs Green's death is the second fatality at the junction in less than a month and our campaign to seal up the central reservation gaps on the A64 between Tadcaster and Askham Bryan has won immediate backing from Selby MP John Grogan.

But Highways Agency engineers argue that it is neither practical nor realistic, and would only move the problem elsewhere.

They were developing proposals to ban U-turns or right-turns at suitable central gaps, and hoped to publish draft traffic regulation orders identifying which gaps and manoeuvres in the next couple of months. But Mr Grogan said he would be looking for a clear timetable for closing the gaps at a meeting on March 6 with Highways Agency chiefs, police and councillors.

Mrs Green, of Haytonwood View, Aberford, died of head injuries after her Vauxhall Astra collided with the rear of a lorry waiting in the middle of the carriageway at Colton Lane End.

Selby-based Traffic Constable Andrew Patchett, who is dealing with the latest fatal accident, said two lives could have been saved in the last few weeks if the gaps had been closed.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.