A Staffordshire grandmother has died in a car crash on the very road which she had campaigned for years to make safer.
Isobel Hughes, 84, from Madeley Heath, just outside of Stoke, died when the car she was driving crashed down a “30 foot” embankment drop – one which someone else had gone down a couple of years before, according to StokeonTrentLive.
Emergency crews were called at 7.15am on Sunday, and found the car “on its roof”. They managed to cut her free, but she died as paramedics tried to save her.
Mrs Hughes, who was described by a friend as someone who had “a cheeky smile and sparkle in her eye”, had been concerned about the speed that motorists would drive in the stretch of road out of the village before a 60mph section began.
“She’d been campaigning for years to have the limit reduced because it isn’t felt that the road is really wide enough for two cars,” said Miles Flanagan, 52, who was, along with his wife, a close friend of Mrs Hughes.
Mrs Hughes had told the couple she would see them “after the weekend” as she was off to stay with friends “the other side of Stafford”.
It’s not currently clear to police how long Mrs Hughes’ white Suzuki Splash was lying at the crash site, as it is not visible from the road, and they had received no missing person reports before its discovery.
Flanagan added that Mrs Hughes was a “fiercely independent woman” who was often out of the house. “She’d go round checking all the batteries in the community defibrillators, and loved visiting the local artisan markets.”
He continued : “Surely now someone’s died. down [the embankment drop], something needs to be done about that junction.”
Cllr David Williams, highways cabinet member for Tory Staffordshire County Council, said: “We are sorry to hear of this tragic incident, and our thoughts are with Isobel’s family and friends at this sad time.
“We have not received any reports of concerns about this stretch of road in the last few years, however a police investigation is under way and we will await the outcome of that and any recommendations arising from any coroner’s inquest following this incident.”
