M-way speed may be held down in wake of fatal crash

The Institute of Advanced Motorists yesterday called for a pilot project for an 80mph limit “to assess its practicality and safety and road users’ reaction”. And Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “A car travelling at 80mph has 30 per cent more energy than one travelling at 70mph. It is correct to say that excess or inappropriate speed does not necessarily cause a crash, but equally it is true to say that it can greatly increase its severity.”

The crash, near Taunton, has also started a debate about whether fireworks displays should be more tightly controlled. Avon and Somerset Police are investigating reports of significant smoke on the motorway, from a display at Taunton Rugby Club. A spokesman for Taunton Deane Borough Council has confirmed the display did not require a licence. Road safety was one reason for controls on stubble burning by farmers, introduced in 1993.

Two lorry drivers were among the seven who died in Friday night’s 34 vehicles pile-up. One was named as Terry Brice of Bristol and the other as Kye Thomas, 38, from Gunnislake, Cornwall. An elderly couple from Newport, south Wales, Anthony and Pamela Adams, were also victims. It was reported in Windsor, Berkshire, that a local 19-year-old, Emma Barton, had been left in a coma and her wheelchair-bound father, Michael, and sister, Maggie, had been killed. The seventh victim was named as Malcolm Beacham, from Woolavington in Somerset. Eleven of the 51 people injured were still in hospital yesterday.