A COUNTY councillor has promised to investigate the possibility of installing barriers on the Coventry Highway following a successful petition which has reached 3,000 signatures.
Councillor Alan Amos has been speaking with the man behind the campaign, Paul Sellers, who asked for crash barriers to be put in the middle of ‘all Redditch dual-carriageways’ following the death of his son, Ollie.
19-year-old Ollie was killed by reckless driver Raeqa Liaqat, aged 25, in 2017 after her car crossed a central embankment on the A4023 Coventry Highway, crashing into Ollie’s car.
Coun Amos, whose portfolio covers highways, said: “The reason it’s taken almost two years to look into is because we were waiting for a verdict in the court case.
“We needed to know what the cause of the crash was, and now that we know it was human error, it means we can look at what can be done.
“But we do need to take the budget into account, unfortunately this is the reality of the situation.
“Redditch has a very large number of dual-carriageways without central barriers and, to put it into perspective, one-mile of crash barrier on a motorway can cost up to £1.5million.”
Coun Amos says County officers often make their decision based on if there is a ‘repeat problem’, in other words multiple crashes in one location or if it’s a ‘one-off’ incident down to ‘human error’ which he says ‘unfortunately can happen anywhere, anytime’.
Mr Sellers said: “The dual-carriageway without any crash barriers is an extremely dangerous road.
“As we approach the two-year anniversary since we lost Ollie, it’s important to be active and try to prevent anyone else losing their life in the same way.”
Mr Sellers will also head to Parliament with charity Brake on July 3 to lobby MPs for tougher sentences after Liaqat received just 9 months in jail last month.
