"Danger Road" - residents call for action

People living in and around a Northamptonshire village say they will press on with a fight for better road safety after a dramatic crash last year.

In November last year the main road north of Corby was closed off for several hours as a car and a crane collided at a notorious accident blackspot and smashed into a home.

It happened on the A6003 in Rockingham, known locally as Rockingham Hill. The driver of the crane was taken to hospital by air ambulance and the driver of the car was also taken by hospital by road.

Residents have held several meetings and organised a petition calling for better safety measures.  There is already a speed camera in place halfway down the hill but some people have called for weight restrictions, more rumble strips or even a bypass.

It's understood the crane was coming down the hill and the car was travelling in the opposite direction, before the two collided and then slid across the road into a stone-built house.

Johnny Davis, his wife and four children were all inside the property at the time and escaped unhurt.  Johnny told Heart: "I was woken up by a fairly loud bang and some rumbling and had a look out the window and to my surprise and horror there was a large crane upside down coming into my garden."

Some residents in the village told us there had been numerous accidents there over the years but things had improved since a speed camera was fitted halfway down the hill.  Others called for weight restrictions on the road to stop lorries from using the steep gradient.

Later that month in a separate car accident, a 39 year old pedestrian was killed.