A MAJOR review is being conducted by Cornwall Council to improve road safety on the A388 following calls from concerned residents and councillors after a multitude of accidents in recent years.
The review, which is being conducted in conjunction with Cormac (the council’s highways contractor), is primarily seeking to eliminate risk and identify ways to slow traffic by studying the period from January 1 2017 to December 31 2021, during which time there were 77 reported injuries from accidents on the main road, with three having resulted in a fatality.
According to Cornwall Councillor Andrew Long, Mebyon Kernow’s representative for Callington and St Dominick, the review is looking at the specific location accidents have occurred, what the top speeds were and the reasons behind each accident.
Cllr Long said: ‘Four people have died on this road in the space of five years and one death alone is too many. This is something that needs to be sorted urgently — there are serious issues with this road. The desire for this review to be carried out has been ongoing for some time now, however the council officially launched it approximately a month ago after it was announced at the end of last year. I am working with other local councils between Callington and Launceston, including Stoke Climsland, and their respective Cornwall councillors whilst this is ongoing.’
The matter of safety on this road is one of particular significance for Cllr Long, who very sadly lost his sister in a fatal accident in June 2020 when a lorry collided with the minibus she was driving at Treburley, also killing a passenger. In April, a seventeen-year-old girl was killed in a two vehicle crash on the stretch of road between Stoke Climsland and Treburley, with a passenger sustaining life-changing injuries. Another fatality occurred on the road in December 2022, when a man died in a serious two vehicle collision near Westcott Cross, St Dominick, with four other people also being seriously injured.
Cllr Long is also calling for a similar review of the A390, from Callington to Launceston, following a serious collision incident on April 18 this year when a vehicle left the road and caught fire at St Ive between Liskeard and Launceston, killing three young men, aged 16, 18 and 30.
Cornwall Councillor Adrian Parsons, Liberal Democrat representative for Altarnun and Stoke Climsland, has stated that the section between Callington and Launceston is ‘high priority’ and revealed that Cornwall Council was considering a range of speed-calming measures which could be implemented such as enhancing the visibility of road signage and markings, improving surfaces, introducing new speed limits and installing further speed cameras and barriers.
Cllr Parsons said: ‘Improvements could be and need to be made, however this is dependent on the strength of local views and the funding that is made available. Unfortunately we’re seeing more budget slashes for highways. I believe a priority should be lowering the speed limit on the A388 and installing speed cameras. Should funding not be sufficient, I would urge local groups with appropriate resources such as speedwatchs to help where they can.’
A petition was set up by a concerned resident in June 2021 calling on Cornwall Council to install signage and average speed cameras for a 40mph speed limit on the A388 between the B3362 (Tavistock) junction and the Stoke Road (Venterdon/Stoke Climsland) junction, in addition to a 30mph limit where the road passes through Treburley. It can be found using the following web link: https://shorturl.at/tDLTY
Cllr Long confirmed that when the final analysis and outcome of the review were released, this would be shared with local town and parish councils in the vicinity of the A388 and also be made available in a publicly accessible document, with Cllr Parsons saying he would further be seeking feedback from local groups and consultees.