DORSET’S most dangerous road can now be revealed – and it isn’t a snaking country road or dual carriageway.
According to Dorset Police, the A338 or the A31 haven’t seen the most serious injury crashes, despite being two major roads used by thousands of cars, buses and lorries every day.
According to an Echo FOI, the road with the most serious injury or fatal crashes in the past year is on Christchurch Road through Boscombe and Pokesdown.
Dorset Police said in the past 12 months, there had been seven incidents reported.
BCP Council recently launched a public consultation asking residents for feedback on how a new £1.89m grant should be spent to improve safety on the stretch of road.
Julian McLaughlin, director for infrastructure at BCP Council, said this stretch of the A35 was selected by the government and the Road Safety Foundation as a place that could do with extra safety measures.
Early last year, an elderly Christchurch woman was killed in a crash on the road at the junction with Crabton Close Road.
That junction has also been controversial among residents, with some telling the Echo they often see red-light jumpers.
Ian Joyce, 65, said: “Cars jump the red lights every day. It’s constant. You can stand here for minutes and see it happen all the time.”
Hasan Yildirim, a shopkeeper at the Christchurch Road Premier, added: “Most of the time it is very dangerous and when the bicycles go through they don’t stop.”
Overall, the A35 - which stretches across the entire country from Christchurch to Charmouth - saw 149 injury collisions in the past 12 months.
Meanwhile, the A3049 (Dorset Way and Wallisdown Road) saw 46 crashes in the past year, the A31 had 45 incidents and the A354 linking Weymouth with Salisbury had 40 crashes.
The latest figures from the Department of Transport show 855 casualties were reported on Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole roads in 2022 – up from 783 the year before.
In the rest of Dorset, there were 962 injuries during the same time – up from 812 the year before.
Last year's figures include 28,031 people who suffered serious injuries on Britain’s roads. In Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, 177 people were seriously injured.
Edmund King, president of the AA, said: "Every death on our roads is a tragedy and it is worrying that after the pandemic, road deaths are rising.
"It is a preventable tragedy that a fifth of people who die in cars on our roads are not wearing a seatbelt.”
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