Duke of Edinburgh car crash road already under safety review

Safety concerns had been raised over a stretch of road where the Duke of Edinburgh was involved in a car crash.

The local council is due to consider plans for new safety measures on the section of the A149 on Friday, including lowering the speed limit from 60mph to 50mph and implementing an average speed monitoring system.

Philip, 97, was left "very shocked" and shaken when the Land Rover he was driving collided with a Kia as he drove near the Queen's Sandringham estate on Thursday afternoon.

The crash happened at the Babingley crossroads, where the B1439 meets the A149 - also called Queen Elizabeth Way - around seven miles north of King's Lynn.

Highways engineer Andrew Wadsworth told the Eastern Daily Press in October: "The A149 north of King's Lynn was identified as having a high rate of personal injury collisions during routine analysis of collisions on Norfolk's network."

Mr Wadsworth said the predominant types of collision were "those which may be associated with excessive speed, such as tail end collisions, overtake and head on collisions".

There has been no suggestion that speeding was involved in Thursday's crash.

The A149 follows the Norfolk Coast from Great Yarmouth to King's Lynn.

There were 40 "personal injury accidents" - including five that were fatal and 10 serious - in the six years to May 2018.

Norfolk County Council is meeting on Friday to discuss safety on the road near King's Lynn.

A report by the council's executive director of Community and Environmental Services, Tom McCabe, recommends a safety camera scheme is implemented and agrees in principle to lowering the speed limit to 50mph.

The average speed camera system would cover the A149 from the junction with the A148, around two-and-a-half miles south of the crash scene, to Snettisham, six miles to the north.