A TEAM of officers charged with reducing accidents on Hampshire's roads has visited the spot of a tragic crash in Ropley that claimed the lives of six men. The casualty reduction partnership - made up of engineers from Hampshire County Council and officers from Hampshire Constabulary - looked at the scene on the A31, close to the Chequers Inn in Ropley, to assess what safety measures, if any, should be implemented. Samuel Sayer, 20, Kris Pendlebury, 21, Duncan Brown, 25, Daniel Dewhurst, 19, Rogan Smart, 19, and Ian Ledsham, 51, all lost their lives in an horrific head-on collision on the bend three weeks ago. The accident happened when a silver Peugeot 106, driven by Mr Sayer and carrying the other four young men, was in collision with a green Ford Focus, driven by Mr Ledsham and carrying his 18-year-old son who, luckily, escaped with two broken fingers and internal injuries. Hampshire County Council spokeswoman Sarette Martin said the site visit was a routine exercise, carried out every time there was a fatal accident on the county's roads. "We are now assessing what measures, if any, might be suitable. If there is a need for measures, they need to be appropriate," she said. "We can't be more specific as to what might be required. Quite often we will find it is things like additional signage and white lining. It is at the top of the agenda and following the meeting there will be a detailed report prepared. "In terms of timing, normally for these things it is sooner rather than later. It is a priority." Figures released by the county council have revealed that there have been no other accidents in the same spot in the last five years. However, there have been two slight- injury accidents on the junction of Brislands Lane close to the scene, and one serious- injury accident in icy conditions 150 metres south of Brislands Lane. The tragic accident has led to a call for further safety measures to be added along the stretch of the A31 that runs from North Street to the petrol station. A worried villager, who asked not to be named, said he regularly saw motorists breaking the 40 and 50 mph speed limits through the village. He suggested that a safety camera or possibly speed reactive warning signs, like those on the A32 and the B3006, could be installed. "The actual speed limits that they have got are fine but it is the implementation that needs looking into," he said. "I think something similar to what they have got on the A32 through the Meon Valley. It is a sign that lights up if you do more than the speed limit. I think that would be beneficial because it does stop them in their tracks. "I think another problem is that some of the foliage is so overgrown in the village at the moment that so many of the signs that are here at the moment are not visible." Julian Hewitt, spokesman for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Safety Camera Partnership, said the stretch of the A31 between North Street and The Dene was not an area with a history of speeding and accidents. "We do look at all roads, including the A31, and we are constantly reviewing them with the police and local authorities," he said. "We only put safety cameras where there is a previous history of both speeding and accidents and that certainly has not been flagged up here."
