Coroner demands safety action on 'confusing' Milton Keynes slip road where women lost their lives

Sean Cummings, Assistant Coroner for Milton Keynes, conducted an inquest in July into the death of 58-year-old Tracey Haybittle, who was involved in a collision on the A5 slip road at the Little Brickhill junction.

And this week he has issued a special report, which he has sent to National Highways to call for more safety measures on the road.

Mrs Haybittle had been driving correctly along the A5 adjacent to the Little Brickhill junction.

But another driver, Ms Mohamed Ahmed, had mistakenly entered the "off" slip road believing it to be the correct turn. This meant she was driving the wrong way along the one-way road.

It appears she was audio directions from her satnav application, the inquest heard.

"She proceeded to drive down the slip road at speed and collided head on with Mrs Haybittle's vehicle,” said the coroner.

M Ahmed died at the scene and her female passenger was critically injured but survived. Mrs Haybittle was rushed to the John Radcliffe Hospital and died a short while later, on November 17 2023.

Afterwards, National Highways put up more ‘no entry’ signs, but local people still complained that the area was misleading and near-miss accidents were continuing to happen.

However, council officials concluded it was safe. Read more: No safety issues’ found at Milton Keynes junction where two people were killed after a woman drove the wrong way down a sliproad

Now Dr Cummings has disagreed. His report states: “During the course of the investigation my inquiries revealed matters giving rise to concern. In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken.”

It adds: “National Highways undertook a number of immediate remedial measures to try to prevent drivers turning and travelling the wrong way down this slip road, including narrowing the "mouth" of the slip road to one lane, placement of very large temporary "No Entry" signs and placement of signs indicating "Do Not Use Satnav" at the site.

"CCTV monitoring of driver behaviour was commenced. Police activity and monitoring by National Highways showed that despite these measures, drivers were still turning early and attempting to drive the wrong way down the slip road.

"Further enquiries by the police and information volunteered by members of the public who made the same incorrect manoeuvre led to the finding that while the visual map display on commonly used satnav applications at this junction displayed the correct information, the verbal commands gave information likely to confuse and direct drivers down the wrong slip road into the path of oncoming traffic. This was observed to happen frequently.”

Dr Cummings is now calling for more action to be taken avoid future deaths.

He has sent his report to National Highways and also Sat Nav manufacturers Apple UK, Google and TomTom. They have 58 days to respond.

Local ward councillor Cllr David Hopkins has pledged to continue to liaise with the authorities to ensure the coroner’s recommendations are implemented “urgently”.

“Additional safety measures, for example CCTV and additional safety signage, must be installed to ensure this can tragic accident can never be allowed to happen again,” he told the Citizen.