Cornwall Air Ambulance Newquay Police

We recently received a request from Cornwall Air Ambulance to help them with road safety issues on the A3059 road, which runs past their operations base at Newquay Airport. Things came to a head when a blood bike delivering vital blood supplies to the helicopter team was struck from behind by a car as it turned into the base.

The collision history on this stretch of road is poor, with one fatality, five serious, life-threatening or life-changing injuries and twelve slight injury collisions in the past five years.

We have worked together with our Vision Zero partners to provide solutions to this problem. The road has been assessed for suitability for speed enforcement, and mobile enforcement activity will be commencing in the near future. Because not all accidents are directly caused by speed, we have deployed the Acusensus camera trailer along the approach the Air Ambulance base to detect distracted drivers. Between 21st April and 18th May, 185 drivers were detected driving whilst using mobile devices. A further 524 were not wearing seat belts - which, whilst it will not direct cause a collision, will have a huge impact on the likelihood of surviving the subsequent impact without serious injury. The trailer will return in the future, and the feasibility of a permanent fixed camera at this location is being investigated.

Cornwall Air Ambulance said:

"As Vision Zero board members, we are very aware of the dangers on roads. However, the frequency of incidents on the A3059 has increased over the past 12 months and the road has sadly experienced a higher-than-average amount of KSIs* on it - a number of which have been responded to by the Cornwall Air Ambulance crew. As reports of accidents and near misses increase on this stretch of road, the safety of Cornwall Air Ambulance staff, volunteers and members of the public is paramount so we fully support the enforcement action from our colleagues at Devon & Cornwall Police."

Please take care and comply with the speed limit when driving on this stretch of road, being especially aware of the possibility of emergency vehicles entering and exiting the air ambulance base.

* KSI = killed or seriously injured

Cornwall Air Ambulance Newquay Police