Baby cheats death in crash at Charminster blackspot (From Dorset Echo)

Baby cheats death in crash at Charminster blackspot

10:30am Monday 22nd March 2010 in

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A ONE-YEAR-OLD baby girl cheated death in a three-vehicle crash at a notorious blackspot near Dorchester.

Firefighters had to cut the roof off the car the infant was travelling in, leaving the vehicle looking like a wreck.

The baby escaped unhurt but her father,38, from Charminster suffered a fractured pelvis.

Police said the drama happened on the C12 Old Sherborne Road just outside Charminster just before 5pm on Saturday.

The road was closed between the Charminster and Charlton Down junctions for more than two hours while emergency crews worked on casualties and recovered two of the vehicles, a Ford Mondeo and a Citroen Berlingo.

A Peugeot 205 car was also involved.

Police said the Mondeo, registered to a Bournemouth motorist, contained the baby and a male driver and the Berlingo contained a man, 59, and a woman, 56, both from Sherborne.

The four were taken by ambulance to Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester.

They were released after treatment for whiplash and shock.

The crash was initially thought to be a serious accident with multiple casualties but PC Terry Swain of the road policing unit based at Dorchester said the injuries suffered were only slight.

The Dorchester firefighters who were involved removed the roof of the Mondeo on the advice of paramedics, not because anyone was physically trapped.

The Old Sherborne Road is one of Dorset’s most dangerous stretches of road, claiming eight lives in under four years.

Dozens of people have also been injured in crashes along the seven-mile isolated stretch of road which runs from Dorchester to Middlemarsh.

On the day of the crash, Charminster parish councillor Peter Hopford had put up a speed indicator device on the road to warn motorists. Parish councils have urged Dorset County Council to upgrade the C12 road to A-road status to allow improvements to be made at junctions.

The scene where the crash happened is not near a junction and is a relatively straight stretch but there are hidden dips and potholes.

Vice-chairman of Charminster Parish Council Tony Mackle said: “I can see the Old Sherborne Road from where I live and I noticed the blue flashing lights on Saturday and wondered what was going on.

“There are some concerns about that road but the main focus has been towards Cerne Abbas.

“However the road where the crash was has some hidden dips and blind summits. There isn’t very good forward visibility so it’s not a road you should be taking liberties on.” Sarah East, who represents the area on West Dorset District Council, said: “I know the county council is trying to improve that road and in the next year it is going to be looking at each stretch carefully.

“It is a road which has had some quite serious accidents along it.

“If people drove at the speed limit it would be all right but I am sorry to say many people do go too fast.”

Coun East added: “I know there are some dips in the road too and in the past there have been problems with flooding.

“I think people should drive particularly carefully along there and drive according to the weather conditions.”

Witnesses and anyone with information should contact Dorset police on 01305 222222.