Loved ones of a 29-year-old motorcyclist who died while on his morning commute are campaigning for the junction where he was killed to be demolished and replaced by a roundabout. Ashley Rogers, who had an 18-month-old son and a fiancée who he was due to marry this week, died at the junction following the crash involving his motorcycle and a van towing a trailer at the Nash Fingerpost on the A477 in Pembroke on May 13.
Campaigners have long called for a safety review of the junction where three motorcyclists have died in the last 12 years, calling it one of the most dangerous junctions in the country, but they say their appeals have fallen on deaf ears. Pembroke business owner Yvette Weblin-Grimsley said: "After the so-called improvements 12 years ago I dealt with the highways authority saying the improvements should have been a roundabout as it was still very dangerous and there would be even more fatalities.
"I had to travel the road twice a day to and from my business in Pembroke. Some mornings I would see a crashed car waiting to be taken away by a recovery vehicle and on my journey home in the evening there would be the residue of smashed glass in a different place on the junction. There were fatalities before this junction was ever 'improved' and there have been three fatalities since. People have also been seriously injured here. One man took 12 months to walk again and five years before he could walk unaided."
Read next: The Welsh NHS is on its knees and this is who put it there - a special report
Vehicles driving onto the A477 from the A4075 can turn left towards Pembroke Dock and right towards Carmarthen. There is a small waiting area in the middle of the road for those turning right which is big enough for a couple of cars queuing properly. But locals who drive the road every day say four or five cars often “stack up” in a row beside each other in the waiting area meaning one cannot see past the other.
Videos shared with WalesOnline show how dangerous the junction can get. Vehicles often cram into the central area while others try to get in but are hanging out into the road and blocking traffic on the A477. It means cars travelling at the 60mph speed limit have to stop quickly.
A petition, set up by Ashley's friend Elliott Morrison with the aim of getting the 10,000 signatures needed for the matter to be considered for debate, reads: “[Mr Rogers’] death marked the third fatality on that stretch of road within the space of 12 years. Further, there have been innumerable near misses on what is known locally as a black spot for road traffic accidents. Enough is enough. This petition calls upon the Welsh Government to do the right thing and prioritise human life over trivial budgeting pressure.” It’s been signed by more than 6,700 people so far as Mr Rogers’ relatives and friends try to bring it to people’s attention.
The junction has been a point of focus in the Senedd in recent days. At plenary on June 6 Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire MS Samuel Kurtz asked First Minister Mark Drakeford to not wait until the petition received enough signatures and to act now. “The Welsh Government has known about the safety issues at this junction for over a decade,” he said. “Can you commit now that your government will undertake the necessary safety improvements of the A477 Nash Fingerpost Junction to ensure that these matters do not happen [again]?”
The First Minister said a report has now been undertaken by the government and the South Wales Trunk Road Agent to investigate why the junction has become a “black spot”. “In this financial year we will begin to implement the recommendations of that report,” he said. “We’ll begin with the immediate ones – the signing, the road marking, the minor junction layout changes for visibility improvements, and action to prevent U-turns at the junction. Further larger-scale and longer-term options will also be investigated once we see the impact of the immediate measures that we’re able to take in this financial year.”
Mr Kurtz said Mr Drakeford’s comments “did not go far enough”. Welsh secretary Simon Hart said he has been raising his concerns over the safety of the junction for 12 years and little had been achieved in making it safer. He said it has been cited to him that due to volumes of traffic that use the junction “its upgrading to a roundabout is not justified”.
Ms Weblin-Grimsley added: “My husband and I spent less than 10 minutes at the junction last Friday and we witnessed a car towing a caravan pull straight across the main road into the path of an oncoming car which then had to emergency stop. We then witnessed two cars ignoring the rules of the road, pulling across in front of other cars crossing the carriageway.
“This junction is the only junction used by all the oil tankers coming from the refinery. The tankers are too long to fit into the holding pen in the middle so they end up having to position their cabs at almost right angles to fit their trailer unit into the middle. They cannot possibly see enough to safely pull out. We also have all the large military convoys coming to and from Castlemartin camp having to use this junction. Pembroke is just in the throes of having a new visitor centre attraction done and that will incur extra traffic too. Something needs to be done quickly to ensure fatalities do not continue.”
In a statement following Mr Rogers’ death his family said: “We as a family are devastated at the tragic loss of Ashley. He was loved and will be dearly missed by his fiancée, son, family, and friends.” More than £20,000 has been raised by the local community to support his fiancée and son.
READ NEXT:
