Rutland and Stamford MP says she is disappointed but 'will keep pushing' after highways bosses said no to patrol officers on a notorious A1 stretch. 

Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP for Rutland and Stamford, has shared correspondence she has received from National Highways in response to concerns she raised about the 'dangerous' stretch of the A1 that runs through her constituency. 

She had called on National Highways to dedicate traffic officer patrols to the area, as is the case on other parts of the country's road network. 

But in a response letter dated October 21, chief operating officer Duncan Smith has said the A1 is 'statistically safer than other A roads. 

He wrote: "Safety is our top priority and while we are not currently considering expanding routine traffic officer patrols to this stretch of the A1, we continue to respond to incidents as part of our core operational responsibilities.  

"Traffic officer resources are deployed strategically across our network based on factors such as traffic volumes, incident history and proximity to key motorway corridors.  

"Due to resource constraints and the wider implications for coverage across the A1 nationally, expanding controls in this area is not something we are actively reviewing at this time." 

He continued: "We will continue to monitor safety performance across the route. Statistically the A1 is currently safer than other A roads based on the number of killed or seriously injured (KSI) collisions that occur on the route.   

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"As a proportion of all collisions that occur on the route. As a proportion of all collisions KSIs make up 23.3% of the total, which is slightly below the national average of 25%. 

"Additionally, the A1's collision rate stands at 7.3 collisions per 100 million vehicle miles travelled, compared with the national average of 12.5 for A roads, a relatively lower rate of incidents across its full length." 

The A1 is the country's longest road stretching 410 miles from Edinburgh to London. 

Mr Smith said that while some junctions in Mrs Kearns' constituency 'do appear on our high- risk junction list' he said the overall stretch is not classed as an accident hotspot. He said despite this it was recognised there are specific areas where improvements could be made and he said the organisation was working to reduce risks. 

Last year, transport research group Midlands Connect reported there were almost 1,000 crashes on the A1 between Peterborough and Blyth since 2015. 

National Highways announced some central reservations closures and Mr Smith said 13 had happened between Little Ponton and Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth. 

Mrs Kearns said she was disappointed by the highway's boss's response but added: "Rest assured I will keep pushing to do all I can to improve the safety of this dangerous stretch of road."