A38 tragedy lights call

A coroner is to write to Staffordshire highways bosses calling for street lights on a notorious stretch of the A38 after the latest tragedy there.

South Staffordshire Coroner Andrew Haigh will write after hearing 21-year-old Nicola Hollingmode died after her parents decided to turn off her life support machine after a December accident near Weeford Island.

He said he presided over numerous inquests on deaths due to accidents on the dual carriageway and added: "I will write to the highways department to enquire if it is possible to have streetlights installed at this site. If something can be done then so much the better."

Nicola, of Green Slade Grove, Hednesford, suffered a head injury in the crash on December 17 last year and died on December 19.

The inquest heard Nicola, who worked part-time at Rugeley Leisure Centre, was returning home from a day out in Birmingham with a friend when she lost control of her blue Peugeot car at about 10.50pm as she turned onto a slip road off the A38.

Nicola, a keen footballer, was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown from the car. Her badly damaged vehicle came to rest in trees.

David Brown of Tamworth, said his Ford Focus was overtaken moments earlier by a car he estimated had been doing 80 or 90mph.

A second witness also said the Peugeot was going at excessive speed. Collision investigators said control was lost, possibly because of oversteering after she began to drift as the car went around the bend.

Recording a verdict of accidental death Mr Haigh said: "It is likely she was driving a bit fast. The most likely cause of this collision is that Nicola's vehicle went into an anti-clockwise yaw because of oversteering by Nicola. I can't say precisely how this has come about but it is correct to describe it as a genuine tragic accident."

By Shaun Lintern