Hevingham woman calls for safety improvements to A140 after a series of fatal crashes outside her home

The scene of the accident on the A140, north of Hevingham (Image: Archant)

Dianne Wells woke up yesterday to find that a man in his 40s had died after hitting a tree opposite her bungalow in Hevingham.

It happened just two weeks after another driver was left badly injured when his car wiped out her fence and gate on Cromer Road.

Having seen five deaths on the same stretch of the A140 in the past ten years, Mrs Wells is now calling for the council to take action.

The 70-year-old former carer said: 'It has become so regular now that when it happens you just think 'that's another one', it's all you can do.

'It would be good if they had an average speed camera here from the beginning of the village to the end.'

She believes that water running down from a layby opposite Low Lane is collecting on the road near to her property, causing cars to aquaplane.

Police confirmed yesterday that a driver was killed following an accident around 1.30am when his black Volkswagen Passat left the road and hit a tree.

Mrs Wells said a crash two weeks ago caused £5,000 worth of damage to her fence, which was reinforced with concrete.

It followed a similar accident 18 months ago, where the hedge in her front garden was completely destroyed after a car left the road.

Norfolk County Council said it only holds records of personal injury accidents, as opposed to damage-only incidents.

But it said there had been two other fatal collisions along the same stretch in the past 10 years.

One involved a driver emerging from Low Road in September 2009, and another in March 2013, when two people were killed in a head-on collision.

A council spokesman said: 'We undertake ongoing analysis of the whole of the Norfolk road network and target our limited resources at those locations where higher than expected numbers of collisions have occurred, or where commonality in crash types indicate that a particular treatment may be of benefit.

'There are currently no future schemes planned for this particular stretch of the A140, other than the surface dressing mentioned below.'

John Sutton, 47, who also lives on Cromer Road in Hevingham, said he was the first on the scene following the fatal crash yesterday.

The postman said he went outside after hearing what sounded like a 'bomb going off' and saw the car on its roof.

He immediately called 999 for police and an ambulance to attend.

A passing police car stopped and officers attempted CPR until paramedics arrived, but the driver died at the scene.

Police are keen to hear from anyone who may have witnessed the incident or noticed the driving manner of the Passat prior to the incident.

Anyone with information should contact the Serious Collision Investigation Team (SCIT) at Wymondham on 101.