N Norfolk target for road safety launch

Norfolk's transport bosses have unveiled a pioneering £1.5m road safety scheme hours after an accident where the project is on trial.

The county council's transport experts yesterday launched the measures in a bid to cut accidents which can claim up to 70 lives in Norfolk every year.

Councillors and officers attended a presentation at the Ovington bends on the A1075 Dereham to Watton road where flashing chasing chevrons are on trial and where earlier a man was trapped in his car and suffered minor injuries.

But transport experts insisted the new measures were improving road safety in the area.

With 77pc of incidents happening on the county's rural roads, the county council's transport experts are looking to test a series of measures in north-east Norfolk.

These include a new green de-restriction sign to warn drivers they are entering the minor road network where not all hazards will be marked.

Some roadside trees will be removed or guarded and half-metre run-off strips will be added at key points on fast A roads.

Officers say village roads will be “de-cluttered” by removing traffic signs and new rear-facing speed cameras will be introduced. The cameras will target motorcyclists in particular as their registration plates at the rear cannot be read by current equipment.

Alec Byrne, chairman of the Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership, said: “This rural project gives us the chance to spare even more families from the trauma and misery that go with serious

road accidents. Working within a demonstration area will give us a chance to see which measures are effective at reducing the number and severity of accidents.”

A spokesman for Norfolk County Council said the main target for yesterday's demonstration was an area of north-east Norfolk, including North Walsham, Aylsham, Stalham and Hemsby, as well as many coastal and broadland villages.