BISHOP MONKTON - SOME OF THE RECORDED ACCIDENTS & SAFETY INCIDENTS AT THE VILLAGE X-ROADS, THE A61 JUNCTION AND ON OTHER VILLAGE ROADS

Accidents & Incidents - (some extracts)

X-roads (C263 and C3777): Extracted from CrashMap & RoadCrash, so the Police, at least, were called. (* photo/report) 18/11/04 Slight 4 vehicles 1 casualty 28/06/06 Serious 2 vehicles 1 casualty 18/06/08 Slight 3 vehicles 1 casualty 07/01/10 Slight 2 vehicles 1 casualty 21/07/12 Serious 3 vehicles 2 casualties * Air ambulance? 03/07/14 Serious 2 vehicles 1 casualty *,* Cyclist paralysed, Air ambulance 12/04/19 Serious 2 vehicles 1 casualty From other records 05/02/13 Slight 2 vehicles 0 casualties * Police present on photo 15/01/16 Serious 2 vehicles 1 casualties Coach involved 24/07/19 Serious 2 vehicles 1 casualty Cyclist injured, bike destroyed 21/09/20 Minor 2 vehicles 0 casualties * Car front removed

A61 / Moor Road Junction (A61 and C263): Extracted from CrashMap & RoadCrash, so the Police, at least’ were called. 13/09/05 Serious 2 vehicles 1 casualty Turning right into Moor road 25/01/06 Slight 2 vehicles 1 casualty 10/05/10 Slight 2 vehicles 1 casualty 25/03/11 Slight 3 vehicles 2 casualties 30/03/12 Slight 2 vehicles 1 casualty 06/12/13 Slight 3 vehicles 1 casualty 18/08/14 Serious 1 vehicle 1 casualty 20/10/19 Slight 2 vehicles 1 casualty

Other Roads: Moor Road (C263) – Blind Bridge 22/03/13 Slight 1 vehicle 3 casualties Approaching the bridge 2014 Serious 2 vehicles 2 casualties Head on collision, one wrong side Knaresborough Road (C3777), Ripon side Many including 05/08/05 Slight 3 vehicles 3 casualties Minibus and 2 cars 12/09/08 Serious 1 vehicle 1 casualty 14/02/14 Slight 2 vehicles 1 casualty Van and car 29/07/14 Slight 1 vehicle 1 casualty Car sharp right bend, narrow 25/12/17 Slight 1 vehicle 1 casualty 07/11/19 Slight 2 vehicles 3 casualties * Firefighters called, 3 in car Knaresborough Road (C3777), Burton Leonard side Many including 03/02/12 Slight 2 vehicles 2 casualties Agricultural vehicle and car 15/07/14 Slight 2 vehicles 1 casualty Cyclist and car 06/08/15 Slight 2 vehicles 1 casualty 03/02/17 Serious 2 vehicles 1 casualty Car and cyclist Road (C263) Several including 09/09/13 Slight 2 vehicles 1 casualty Car and motorcycle 29/01/15 Slight 1 vehicle 1 casualty Car right hand bend, narrow 17/04/18 Slight 1 vehicle 4 casualties Some Pictures and Reports of Incident Reports

21/07/2012 X-Roads

05/02/2013 X-Roads

03/07/2014 X-Roads Police Report The accident with index '2014120109240' happened on Thursday, July 03 of 2014 at 18:00:00. It was a Serious accident with 1 casualties involving 2 vehicles. The weather was Fine no high winds, the road was Dry and it was Daylight. The speed limit in the accident location was 30 mph. The Police from North attended and registered the accident.The road type is Single carriageway. The Junction is Crossroads. The location of the accident is 1 Knaresborough Rd, Bishop Monkton, Harrogate HG3 3QQ,

Vehicle Driver Manouvre Ref Type Gender Age Band Manouvre Location 1st Impact

1 Pedal cycle Female 11 - 15 Turning right On main cway - not in restricted lane Offside

2 Car Male 46 - 55 Going ahead other On main cway - not in restricted lane Front Vehicle Ref Casualty Ref Gender Age Severity Class Type

1 1 Female 11 - 15 Serious Driver or rider Cyclist POLICE are searching for a crucial witness to a crash that left a young girl with life changing injuries. On Thursday, July 3 a 15 year old girl, who was cycling in Bishop Monkton, was in a collision with a blue Audi estate driving along Knaresborough Road towards Ripon. She was flown to hospital in Leeds, but left with what police are calling life changing injuries. Now police want to track down a woman seen walking her dog in the area. She had brown hair tied back in a ponytail, and was walking an Alsatian type dog at around 6pm, and officers think she could have crucial information about the crash at the crossroads of Knaresborough Road, Hungate and Moor Road in the Bishop Monkton. Officers are urging the woman, or any other witnesses to the collision, to come forward with information. Contact Police on 101 and ask for Traffic Constable Andy MacLeod or Harrogate Roads Policing Group, or email [email protected] quoting reference number 12140109240.

07/11/2019 Knaresborough Road (C3777), Ripon side NORTH YORKSHIRE FIRE & RESCUE Incident summary - Nightshift RTC – Knaresborough Road, Bishop Monkton - Time of call: 17:40 hours Ripon appliances responded to a 2 car RTC. No persons trapped, though x3 elderly females in one of the cars given first aid by fire crews, then taken to hospital by ambulance as precaution only.

12/04/2019 X-roads – taken after the crash but shows the residue on the road and traffic appearing from neighbouring drives as well as to/from the slope down the Knaresborough road from Ripon. Visibility from Moor Road left towards Ripon is ‘negligible’, made worse by the recently extended white garage.

21/09/2020 X-Roads It happened today at the crossroads of Moor Road/Hungate & Knaresborough Road just before 14:00. A local resident had driven down Moor Road and was turning right onto Knaresborough Road and was in collision with a van coming from Ripon.

Even within the Village, which is narrow, twisty, there are numerous cars parked forming chicane obstacles, drives, side roads crossroads and a ford, it’s not 20mph and has a beck running through (which is part of its charm but adds to the dangers), there will be accidents. Increase traffic levels can only make these more likely.

ROADS DANGEROUS & IMPASSABLE FROM FLOODING

Boroughbridge Road (C263) – half a mile out of the village

This regularly floods, at least twice per year on average over the last 25 years and more - because of the proximity to the . Sometimes it can be only a couple of feet deep, which is really inconvenient as it’s a long detour and, if coming from Roecliffe in particular, then a lot of backwards tracking. The depth markers show to above 6ft and probably about every other year it approaches this height when it’s obviously very dangerous. Opposite, the picture on 2nd November 2020, just after the driver was rescued. An hour later and the car was totally submerged.

The scene on 6th December 2015

16th March 2019 – too deep to venture and what’s around the corner?

ROADS INFRASTRUCTURE – IN & OUT OF THE VILLAGE

The village is serviced by lanes, all C roads, narrow (with many stretches single track), windy with many hedges and few refuses, with little or no drainage (so flooding and huge puddles and hedge damage), frequently muddy and slippery (from ever increasing farm vehicles), very badly maintained with numerous deep potholes and with verge damaged mud often spread across the road edges. Additionally dangerous because of horses and cycles (on National Cycle Route 688, Ripon/Boroughbridge and on) and the increased use over recent years with more and larger/wider cars (country 4x4 frequent), more and larger van and lorry deliveries and much larger farm tractors and trailers also travelling longer than in the past. A width that used to enable 2 vehicles to safely pass, say 40 years ago, is now insufficient, so increased danger and any available verges become badly damaged. In the last 50 years there has been almost no improvements to these lanes – compare that with the increased use. Adequate infrastructure is vital for safety and for sustainability but should also reflect the character of the area.

An added problem, particularly in the last 25 years or so, is a large increase in cars per households (village, virtually no bus service) and the age and positioning of the houses resulting in an alarming increase in on- street parking. This applies particularly to St John’s Road where it seriously affects traffic flow (probably should be one way, as per 2008 Parish Plan recommendation), Boroughbridge Road (creating a series of chicanes through the village) and more recently to Melrose Road with a very high level of car ownership and limited internal storage resulting in garages becoming additional storage areas. Planning permission was recently surprisingly given for the removal of 8 garages in St John’s Way to build 3 bungalows (for HBC) – inevitably there will be increased street parking.

Pictures of the roads in and out of Bishop Monkton (moving towards the crossroads):

From Ripon (C3777) towards the crossroads:

Note: this is pre the Harvest View development which is on the left hand side when entering the village. It’s also pre the extension of the garage (at the Crossways bungalow upgrade) which further reduces the visibility of traffic arriving from Moor Road on the right (where the car is).

From Roecliffe/Boroughbridge (C263) towards the crossroads:

Note: The far flood depth marker in the picture above (before the car disappeared), calibrated up to 6ft. The marker is often submerged

From Burton/Knaresborough (C3777) towards the crossroads:

Note: Alfa/Berkeley planned development is on the left hand side here

From A61/MoorRoad (C263) towards the crossroads:

Note: Visibility ‘over’ the bridge, is almost nil (a blind summit) - head on accidents have happened.

Note: Alfa/Berkeley planned development is on the right hand side (plus a new entrance to Red House on the left)

MJM December 2020