A FATAL crash and concern over speeding vehicles has compelled councillors to put up safety signs warning drivers to slow down on one of the main routes into Northallerton.

The vehicle activated sign has been put up on Yafforth Road by Northallerton Town Council.

The £3,800 sign flashes up speeds and warning signs as part of a campaign to slow down traffic.

Town Councillor Caroline Young said they decided it had to be done after rising concern over vehicles speeding along Yafforth road and a fatal crash further along the road last year when an 83-year-old man from the Bedale area died.

His MGZR car which was travelling towards Northallerton was involved in a collision with a white van travelling towards Yafforth, the crash happened near the Northdale Horticultural centre on May 30 at around 11.45am.

The gentleman was taken to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough but sadly died.

Cllr Young, who is also a police volunteer, said: “We have carried out exercises on that road with speed handguns recording the speed of traffic and in the space of an hour we clocked 49 cars in the 30mph zone breaking the speed limit, some were going at up to 49mph, it is just dreadful.

“I felt we just had to have these warning signs, I was concerned that someone was going to get badly hurt or die down there and after the crash we just had to do something.

“We often have people with children and pushchairs walking along that road, there is the housing estate, we need to get the traffic to slow down.

“The signs can be pointed in either direction so we will be turning them round every couple of months. “We just want people to know that they are there and to take notice, this is so important and it will be of benefit to everyone.

“We only put them up in the past couple of weeks and people have already been saying how much they were needed and how welcome they are. We will be monitoring them to make sure drivers take heed.”

The road which also has a nursing home, furnishing and DIY stores and the town’s waste recycling centre has become busier than ever in the past five years with the development of the new 240 home Castlegate housing estate built by David Wilson homes.