A THIRD of the crashes on the notorious Black Dam Roundabout within the last 22 years have happened since the layout changed in 2016.

As reported in the Gazette, there have been 122 accidents on the roundabout in the last 22 years since 1999.

However, more than 40 of these have happened since 2016 when the roundabout underwent a complete redesign costing £11million.

In comparison, there have been 12 accidents on the Brighton Hill Roundabout during the same time period, six on the Hackwood Road Roundabout, 16 on the Oakridge Road Roundabout and 25 on the Thorneycroft Roundabout near Morrisons supermarket.

The figures come from an interactive online map created by road safety experts, CrashMap.

They also include accidents within the vicinity of the roundabout, which we have deducted from the totals to give a more accurate figure. 

The tool includes all severities of crashes – slight, serious, or fatal – as well as when it happened, the number of vehicles involved and the number of reported casualties.

The Gazette previously revealed in 2016 - following the opening of the newly designed Black Dam Roundabout - that accidents had increased, after we submitted a Freedom of Information Request.

Calls from borough councillors and residents were made at the time to improve the safety of the roundabout.

This included former UKIP parliamentary candidate Robert Blay who was involved in a serious accident on the roundabout in June 2016 resulting in him suffering a badly bruised collar bone.

Now, fresh calls have been made to review the design of the roundabout after four crashes happened there in 48 hours.

The roundabout underwent and £11m redesign by Highways England in October 2014, with delays resulting in the work taking 16 months to complete.

After the Gazette highlighted the increase in accidents and concerns over the dangerous layout in 2016, Highways England decided to review the roundabout and carry out improvement works to the layout which took place in 2017.

Highways England said that since the redesign of the roundabout, it had seen an increase in traffic using it, from an average of 46,000 vehicles a day in 2000, to 56,000 in 2019. 


A spokesperson added: "Safety is Highways England's top priority and we continually monitor the safety of all our schemes after they open. Since the Black Dam roundabout project was completed Highways England safety analysis shows that the proportion of serious collisions at the junction has reduced. 


“Nevertheless, we recognise concern that has been expressed and will continue to keep the safety of the roundabout under continual review and work with the local community on any future improvements."