A38 death crashes appeal - police plea for dashcam footage
Police want you to send them dashcam footage showing dodgy drivers on the A38
Shannon Hards
Police are preparing to deal with an estimated SEVEN more fatal crashes on a notorious stretch of the A38 - before the end of the summer.
That is the warning from traffic cops as they target speeding motorists in a major crackdown on the Plymouth region's busiest road.
As previously reported in Plymouth Live, there are concerns over a treacherous stretch of the A38 between Saltash and Bodmin, in South East Cornwall.
After a string of fatal and serious crashes the A38 has quickly become one of the most prominent accident blackspots on the other side of the Tamar.
Driving along the route, there are stark reminders of the number of lives that have been lost - young and old.
Discarded police tape, traffic cones and tyre skid marks, all indicate the tragedies that have struck.
Police are stepping up their work on the A38 (Image: Devon & Cornwall Police)
And as thousands of tourists head in and out of Devon and Cornwall at the start of the school summer holidays, the troubling likelihood is that some may never make it home.
Our sister title Cornwall Live spent the day out with the police who have to deal with the aftermath of the tragedies and work to try to keep drivers as safe as possible, partly by tackling speeders.
Jason Mullard, from the Devon and Cornwall Police roads policing team, has attended numerous fatal crashes along the road in the Glynn Valley.
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As a family liaison officer, PC Mullard revealed that he has worked with nearly 100 families following the loss of loved ones during his career, with many of those deaths being a result of inconsiderate driving.
He estimates that there could be as many as seven more death crashes before the end of the summer - and he wants the public to send in dashcam footage that could be incriminating for dodgy drivers.
Jason Mullard and Bex Steed use a laser speed camera
To tackle issues on the A38 , a number of PCSOs, sergeants and roads policing team members undertook an operation to educate drivers on some of the most common causes of serious and fatal accidents.
With officers manning mobile speed cameras and others monitoring motorists from unmarked vehicles and the roadside, the goal was to spot drivers using excessive speed, not wearing seat belts, using a hand-held mobile phone, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and behaving carelessly or inconsiderately behind the wheel.
Officers were also stopping drivers using vehicles that had been modified to the extent that they had become unsafe, for example with tinted windows.
PC Mullard said: "The public have a part to play. People ring us to report those who have been drinking in pubs and get behind the wheel of a car.
"But we would also ask them to send us dashcam footage of inappropriate driving. We try our utmost to catch them and we have technology to look at phone records now but it shows us that the public have had enough as well.
A38 - history and facts
The A38, part of which is also known as the Devon Expressway, is a major A-class trunk road.
The road runs from Bodmin in Cornwall to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. It is 292 miles (470 km) long, making it the longest 2-digit A road in England.
It was formerly known as the Leeds–Exeter Trunk Road, when this description also included the A61. Prior to the opening of the M5 motorway in the 1960s and 1970s, the A38 formed the main "holiday route" from the Midlands to Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.
Considerable lengths of the road in the West Midlands closely follow Roman roads.
Between Worcester and Birmingham the current A38 follows the line of a Saxon salt road; For most of the length of the M5 motorway, the A38 road runs alongside it as a single carriageway road.
"Drivers get six points and a £200 fine for using their phones behind the wheel now. For the legislation to be changed and the penalty increased, shows what a serious offence it is.
"I think the public have had enough because they get caught up in traffic jams while we collect evidence for the inquest or court case. It is good that the public is starting to fight back."
Since 2014 more than 900 accidents have taken place on Cornwall's roads, resulting in 162 people being killed or suffering life-changing serious injuries, Cornwall Council revealed.
The worst road location in the county is Chiverton Cross Roundabout on the A30 near Truro, where 29 injury collisions occurred in the past three years, with four deaths or very serious injuries being recorded.
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Roads policing officer Jason Mullard
Unsurprisingly, the Glynn Valley stretch has also become an accident blackspot, with the total of crashes in the area previously standing at 14.
An average of two people die on the A38 between Bodmin and Saltash every year, a sickening statistic which has led to increasing pressure on the authorities to take action.
Campaigners have once again been demanding urgent upgrades to the A38 following the deaths of four people on the notorious road since the beginning of May.
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Two of the most treacherous stretches of the A38 are considered to be in the Glynn Valley between Bodmin and Liskeard , and the winding section between Trerulefoot and Saltash farther east. The junctions off the dual carriageway at Menheniot and the Looe turn-off have also become blackspots.
Since 2004, 29 people have lost their lives on the A38 in Cornwall, the vast majority between Trerulefoot and Carkeel and in the Glynn Valley.
But Inspector Andrew Hamilton, from Devon and Cornwall Police's Safer Road Support Unit, insisted in 2014 that the A38 was safe.
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