Double horror on death road

JOHN QUINN . . . a popular, hard-working father of five

Crashes blamed on poor road surface

A SUBSTANDARD road contributed to two fatal crashes at a notorious accident blackspot, an Oldham inquest heard.

Police officers were startled to discover that the accidents, just three months apart, were almost identical and in the exact same spot on the A627 Ripponden Road in Moorside.

They found there had been another 11 similar collisions reported to police on the same Besom Hill bend and many more may have gone unreported, as indicated by the amount of debris littering the roadside.

Yesterday’s hearing into the death of John Quinn (47), of Buttermere Road, Ashton, was adjourned until today to find out how many accidents Oldham Council was aware of and what was done.

A second inquest will then probe the death of Benjamin Jessop, from Barnsley, who died after a car in which he was a passenger collided with a bus on August 10, last year.

Mr Quinn died from multiple injuries when he hit an out-of-control car that had careered in front of his motorbike at around 6.40pm on May 5, last year.

Witness David Bertram, from Oldham, told the hearing at Oldham County Court that he was riding along the road when he noticed Mr Quinn riding behind quite normally.

Because it was wet he slowed to around 30mph for the bend, when he saw a Renault Clio pass the other way, which did not appear to be doing anything wrong.

He said: “I heard a screech of tyres. I then felt and heard a bang.”

The Clio had swerved into his lane and struck the back of his Yamaha Virago but he managed to stay on and bring it to a safe halt. He walked back to a devastating scene.

The Clio had smashed into a wall, while Mr Quinn had slid off his bike as he braked to avoid it. He and his Yamaha R1 had crashed into the car, which had reared up and trapped Mr Quinn beneath it. He died at the scene.

Mr Bertram escaped with a minor ankle injury but had to take three months off work with post-traumatic stress.

On two occasions in the past his bike had slid out on the bend when it was wet but he was able to control it. He had also seen the aftermath of two other accidents.

The driver of the Clio, Michael Wood (26), from Shaw, was arrested on suspicion of death by dangerous driving but no charges were brought.

In police interviews he said his car “twitched” twice, with the back end moving out, he corrected it both times, but then span out of control.

He didn‚’t know what had caused the accident, adding: “The only thing I can think of is the road surface which gets slippery when wet.

Accident reconstruction officers said the road was in a good state of repair. They were able to drive along it at 40mph and 60mph with no problems and a skid test showed it was acceptable. This indicated driver error was to blame.

But, astonishingly, when one was later walking past he saw a car being driven normally lose control in the rain at the exact same spot before regaining control prompting him to raise concerns.

Oldham Council carried out a site visit shortly after Mr Quinn’s death and found the section of road had a substandard camber. This would affect road surface friction in wet weather. One side of the road — an uphill section heading towards Oldham — was found to have a better natural grip than the other side, which caused cars crossing the centre line to spin.

PC Garry Bryon said the wet surface and substandard road were therefore contributory factors.

PC Mark Dickman, who investigated the second fatality, said: “It was quite startling that the circumstances, if not identical, were very similar. A car coming out of Oldham loses control and doesn’t go where it should do. It should go on the offside not the near side. It shouldn‚t happen.

Remedial work was recommended to the council, but was not carried out until three weeks after the second fatality. A new road dressing was put down and signs advising people to drive at 30mph round the bend. There have been no reported accidents since. Long term, the council will have to find money to rebuild the bend as the new grip will not last.

Daniel Paul, for the council, said there were issues with the road before October, 2007, when additional signs, including slippery when wet and bend warnings, were put in place. But he said there were no reported problems or complaints between then and May, 2009, when the camber problem was found.

Andrew McGowan, representing Mr Quinn‚s family, drew attention to Oldham Chronicle reports raising concerns about the road.

Coroner Simon Nelson adjourned the inquest so a council witness can attend to give more details.

Mr Quinn‚s wife, Jayne Quinn, from Audenshaw, said the self-employed electrician, a father of five with children aged from 14 to 25, was a popular, hard working man who taught and played guitar.

He was an experienced and keen motorcyclist who owned three motorbikes and was described as a good driver. He travelled along Ripponden Road every day to work.

Mr Quinn‚s sister Catherine Caddick, from Cheshire, said the family was still finding it difficult to come to terms with his death and he was sadly missed.




‘High-risk’ road claimed four lives in 2009

IN June, the Road-Safety Foundation (RSF) labelled a four kilometre stretch of Ripponden Road — between Sholver and Denshaw — one of the UK’s high-risk roads.

It reported that the road claimed four lives last year, with the total number of accidents doubling since 2005.

Other accidents on the road last year included a three-car smash in July, with a man losing his life in another accident 12 hours later after he lost control of his Jaguar.

A 4x4 also skidded off the road in bad weather and overturned with passengers lucky to escape injury.

The toll lead to a debate in the Evening Chronicle over whether driver error, including going too fast for the road, or the road conditions were to blame.

Former Waterhead councillor John Anchor, who witnessed some of the horrific accidents, pointed out in this newspaper that there are worse bends with fewer accidents, suggesting there was something structurally wrong.

Last July, the Evening Chronicle reported that ward councillor Roger Hindle had called for checks and work on the bend to be speeded up.