Norfolk: Warning After Fatal Crashes

11 March 2013, 13:57 | Updated: 11 March 2013, 14:05

Police in Norfolk have issued a warning over driving during bad weather after five deaths in crashes at the weekend.

We're being urged to take extra care on the county’s roads following a series of fatal and serious collisions. 

A fatal collision on the A149 at Sandringham this morning brings to five the number of people who have sadly died in road traffic collisions over the course of a 48 hour period since Saturday. 

The A149 between Sandringham and Dersingham remains closed following this morning’s collision which occurred at approximately 6.45am.  

Meanwhile investigations continue into double fatal collisions on the A140 at Hevingham at  8.25pm last night and on the A47 Hockering at 4pm on Saturday. 

While the cause of all three fatal collisions has yet to be confirmed, road policing officers have warned of treacherous road conditions in some parts of the county caused by ice and on untreated roads. 

Between midnight and 9.30am today, police had already been called out to 25 reported collisions across the county. 

Inspector Chris Brooks, from Norfolk and Suffolk Road Policing, said: “It has been a particularly devastating weekend on the county’s roads and while we cannot make assumptions, the poor weather has seen a dramatic increase in the number of serious collisions we and our emergency services colleagues have had to deal with. 

“The icy and snowy conditions are expected to continue throughout the course of the week and we are imploring motorists to slow down and drive according to the conditions.  

“Black ice is a particular concern because the risk is not immediately visible. If roads are bad, we advise people to assess whether they really need to make the journey.” 

One person sadly died following a collision between a black Peugeot 206 and red Peugeot 107 at Sandringham this morning. Officers are in the process of informing next of kin. 

At Hevingham, a man and woman both aged 87 and from Norwich died when the silver Hyundai Getz they were travelling in was in collision with a silver Renault Laguna and left the road. Passengers in the Renault also suffered injuries. 

At Hockering, two women aged 19 and 48 and both from the local area, sadly died when their white Ford Ka was in collision with a grey Mercedes CLKon the A47 at the junction with Low Road. Shortly after, a white Audi A3 was in collision with the Mercedes.  Police are still keen to trace the driver and passengers of a double decker bus which was travelling towards Dereham at around the time of the collision. 

Advice for travelling in cold weather can be found on the Norfolk Constabulary website at www.norfolk.police.uk