SIR- With reference to the dangerous junction A59/Harrogate Road, Skipton and to Councillor John Dawson (and others) recent plea for action to be taken.

Travelling back from Ilkley during a recent afternoon, I witnessed a “near miss” i.e. as I turned left off the slip road towards Skipton a car overtook me doing approx. 60mph, missing a car by inches as it pulled out of the junction onto the bypass - another person “chancing it”—had the car stalled your paper might well have been reporting another fatality.

How many accidents or tragedies does it take before County Highways take positive action. In a recent response from a highway's spokesman a consultation process was mentioned. Why do we need a consultation—North Yorkshire County Council must have highways experts who can advise what needs doing to make this a safer junction. Surely there’s money somewhere , haven’t NYCC and Craven District Council signed up again to finance the Tour de Yorkshire?

Vehicles turning right towards Harrogate, and those turning right off the bypass merely have to 'give way'. It is a matter of politeness as to who sets off first.

Apparently local driving instructors advise learner drivers to just give way to the other driver. Perhaps it would be safer if the signage always gave priority to the vehicles turning right off the bypass, or as other readers have suggested, the right turn off the bypass down to Skipton should be closed off.

It only takes two drivers to set off at the same time to get stuck in the middle of the carriageway with other vehicles travelling at 60mph to cause another tragedy; couldn’t the speed limit be reduced at that end of the bypass?

The actual road surface on the bypass between the roundabout at the junction with the A65 leading to Skipton turn off is in poor condition, with substantial 'grooving' on both sides of the carriageway---particularly dangerous for motor cyclists in the dark and poor driving conditions.

A new roundabout has been suggested, and this might be the best long term solution, but in the meantime surely something can be done soon to reduce the risk of more fatal accidents.

It is very noticeable at the moment how dark and dirty the plastic bollards are, and the junction is poorly illuminated at the best of times –both recent fatalities have happened during bad driving conditions.

Do the highways department have a sign cleaning team? I reported the poor state of the bollards a few weeks ago via the NYCC website, one of the plastic bollards has since been knocked over and has disappeared completely, and the other does not appear to be illuminated.

It is very noticeable in the North Yorks area how so many of our road signs are becoming barely visible due to dirt and algae not being washed off—not to mention the disappearing white lines, the deteriorating state of many cats eyes—all of which play a vital role in accident prevention

David Allison,

Brackenly Close

Embsay