MP calls for urgent review of 'appalling' roundabout on A43 in Northamptonshire after crashes

There have been at least three crashes on the northernmost roundabout for the dual carriageway outside Brackley since Sunday (July 14).

A Facebook group has been set up by fed-up residents and motorists to highlight incidents and discuss issues, while the town's Mr Pothole has taken to social media to complain.

South Northamptonshire MP Andrea Leadsom said: “A number of my constituents have raised concerns with me about safety at the BP garage on the A43 at Brackley, following the recent spate of accidents, and I am very much aware of the issue.

“Safety for road users and pedestrians is paramount, and I have written to the chief executive of Highways England – the body which has responsibility for the A43 – to ask for an urgent review of the situation.”

The main issue seems to be where southbound traffic in the left hand lane, which is meant to just be used for vehicles staying on the A43, going around the roundabout and cutting up traffic in the right hand lane which can also be used to stay on the A43.

The public Facebook page 'The BP roundabout Brackley' has several posts about near-misses and crashes on the roundabout, including lorries and cars.

Kirsty-Ann Sturgess wrote on one post: "Every week without fail I'm cut up there."

Mark Morrell, aka Mr Pothole, believes someone is going to get killed there if the issue is not fixed, which he says can be done with better signage and clearer road markings.

"For me it's a case of not a lot of money for a lot of benefit, as if they signed it better for the direction of the A43 and lined it better, it might stop there being a fatal accident," he said.

"For the amount of money it's going to cost it's negligible. It needs temporary signage to tell people which lane to get in.

"It's not millions of pounds of investment that's needed, this is basically a few thousand pounds with linking and signage. I think it's appalling."

Highways England programme development manager Karen Moore said: “Safety is our priority and we carried out improvement work at the island back in 2014.

"That work segregated traffic on the southbound approach and kept all A43 traffic in the nearside lane.

"We are also planning to install additional signage at the roundabout to help motorists navigate it more easily.

"We know this is a very busy junction and we are exploring options to resurface the roundabout while keeping disruption to a minimum.”