Minister wants speed limit cut on death road

Road safety minister Mike Penning is leading calls for the speed limit to be reduced on a road in Nottinghamshire where six people died in a crash.

Four teenage boys and a Nottinghamshire couple died on the A614, in a crash near Bilsthorpe, in 2009.

Penning said the limit on the stretch of the road could be reduced from 60mph to 50mph.

He also recommended the installation of average-speed-check cameras.

Penning joined Sherwood MP Mark Spencer and the families of some of the crash victims, at the site, on Monday.

He said: "My observations are that there are huge amounts of traffic - some of it is clearly speeding - and a very dangerous junction.

"Something needs to be done about it - there is no doubt about that."

Spencer also called for improvements to two junctions on the road that he estimated would cost £1.5m each.

The safety changes would have to be considered by Nottinghamshire County Council.

The Nottinghamshire coroner concluded the accident happened as a result of "inappropriate overtaking" by the driver of the teenagers' car.

Ross Johnson, 19, Thomas Hudson, 17, Jay Thompson, 18, and Joshua Drinkwater 18, all from north Nottinghamshire, died in the crash on the A614 near Bilsthorpe on 13 February 2009.

Jonathan and Christine Bray, of Edwinstone, in their 60s, also died.