Gwynedd: Review after Tal-y-llyn and Tywyn accidents

Several vehicles have driven off the road and into lake Mwyngil, which lies at the foot of Cader Idris

Campaigners have welcomed the decision to conduct a safety review of a road in Gwynedd.

It comes after several vehicles have come off the B4405, between Tal-y-llyn and Tywyn, some ending up in a lake.

There have been a number of accidents on the road, including a woman who was killed in a fatal collision in 2018.

Gwynedd Council announced they will be working with North Wales Police to see if anything can be done to reduce risks along the road.

Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP Liz Saville Roberts has welcomed the review, but warned that the problem is a wider one on rural roads across Wales.

Caravans, cars and lorries have ended up in the lake, with campaigners wanting the speed limit in the area reduced

The existing road has a national speed limit of 60mph, but campaigners have called for that to be lowered as one possible way of reducing the number of collisions.

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'Loss of life'

Councillor Beth Lawton, who represents the Bro Dysynni ward said: "We can't just carry on.

"By having this investigation we hope to eventually show somewhere where we could improve the road, slow down speed, or just raise people's awareness to drive sensibly along the way."

Brian Matthews runs the Pen-y-bont Hotel by the lake, and says accidents on the road happen far too often.

"There's not a single summer that goes by where there isn't a vehicle that goes straight off the end of the road and into the lake.

"Obviously that's going to be a worry, that's going to be dangerous, and is going to be a risk of loss of life," he said.

There have been 31 road fatalities in the Dwyfor Meirionnydd parliamentary constituency between 2016-2021

'Someone will be hit'

A little up the road is Ty'n y Gornel Hotel, where manager Malcolm Higgins is in favour of a 30mph speed limit as a way of protecting not only drivers, but pedestrians.

He said: "Our lakeside seating areas are often packed full of people enjoying the lake and hotel bars, but to use the hotel's facilities requires crossing the road.

"You only need to sit for a short while to observe the high speeds of certain drivers as they drive through crowds of people attempting to cross the road that it's only going to be a matter of time before someone will be hit."

Liz Saville Roberts MP supported calls to reduce the speed limit along the road.

"In the Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency since 2016, and up until last year we have had 31 fatalities and 231 serious collisions.

"So we know that the roads in the Welsh countryside are dangerous, they are winding, there are trees and hedges along them, there are people driving who may not know the roads.

"One way or another we have to find a way to protect them, remembering of course that the number of people will increase in the summer, and again, they're people who don't know the roads," she said.

Ms Rees said the issues was a wider problem throughout Wales, with people going at speed in ways that weren't suitable

Another resident of the Tal-y-llyn area insists that drivers themselves need to take responsibility.

Marian Rees said: "The road is not dangerous, people are dangerous.

"What's dangerous here is the speed of the traffic, the roads are fine, if only people respected them."

The GoSafe campaign said it has two sites along the B4405 where they use speed cameras, but that static sites were sometimes too "predictable" for drivers who only slow down at those places.

They added that average speed cameras "are an effective method in making drivers comply with the limit", especially on "rural roads".

A Gwynedd Council spokesperson said: "As a council we will work with North Wales Police to gain a better understanding of all the factors involved in the recent accidents, and see whether it is appropriate to introduce additional measure for improving road safety."