HIGHWAY bosses have bid for a £1.2m grant to carry out work on one of the most dangerous stretches of rural road in North Yorkshire.

The six kilometre stretch along the A167 from Topcliffe near Thirsk to the Busby Stoop roundabout has been the site of four serious injury crashes and 14 slight injury accidents in the past five years.

It’s ranked one of the four most dangerous stretches of road in the county by the road Safety Foundation.

Local residents have also campaigned for improvements. Now North Yorkshire county council has asked for money from the Government’s Safer Roads fund so work can be done to improve bends, road surfaces and lighting.

The road is part of a the strategic networks acting as a link to the A1, A19 and A168 as well as the A684 and also serves the army centre at Alanbrooke Barracks which has been the home to 4th Regiment Royal Artillery since 2008.

One of the major problems is parts of the road are very straight leading to speeding, with few paths, so residents have to walk along grass verges.

David Bowe, North Yorkshire county council’s Director of Environmental Services says in the bid:”In addition to areas where there have been personal injury collisions on the identified length of the A167 in recent years, the route is straight and wide for a significant part of its length, leading to the potential for high vehicle speeds and unsafe overtaking.

“The schemes as identified in this bid aim to address the locations where there have been personal injury collisions, as well as those where dangerous driver behaviour has been reported.”

The Road Safety Foundation has included it among the 13 most risky medium risk roads in the country.

"Work planned includes junction improvements at Alanbrooke Barracks to reduce dangerous overtaking and resurfacing to stop collisions and reduce damage to vehicles with drainage to prevent crashes in wet and icy conditions.

The county's executive member for highways, Don Mackenzie, said: “North Yorkshire County Council is fully committed to delivering the A167 Safer Roads Fund Project.

"This is an excellent opportunity to address some of the road safety challenges we face on our predominantly rural road network, taking the opportunity to go above and beyond what is often possible within stretched local authority budgets.

"This is an opportunity not to be missed.”