A DRIVER is on a mission to make a road safer, after he was in a crash on a notorious stretch near Harefield.

Ian Sephton was driving along Harvil Road towards Ickenham with his wife in November last year, when he collided with two other vehicles after one of them overtook the other.

Now he is lobbying Hillingdon Council to make the road a no-overtaking zone.

“I could not live with myself if I didn’t do anything, then found out someone else had lost their life,” said Mr Sephton, who lives in Barrington Drive, Harefield.

His campaign comes a year after village barmaid Louise Clark died in a crash in Harvil Road. Louise, 30, worked at The King’s Arms in Rickmansworth Road.

Mr Sephton requested a meeting with the council highways maintenance manager at the time. Instead, he was sent a road safety suggestion form to fill in, he said.

“The council know improvements need to be made and there is a budget for it because they’re asking people for their ideas,” he said. “All it needs is some double white lines and a few signs, which can’t cost a lot, surely?”

The council has said officers will be visiting the stretch of road where Mr Sephton crashed in the next couple of weeks, to assess what can be done to make the road safer.

The Metropolitan Police said that in the five years to last September there had been one fatal accident and 28 collisions involving injury, ranging from the minor to serious, in the entire length of Harvil Road.

But drivers who use it regularly know of the ‘triple whammy’ of a deep dip in the road which hides anyone who decides to overtake, the absence of street lighting and the 50mph speed limit.

Mr Sephton’s Peugeot 206 was written off in his crash, but fortunately no one involved was seriously injured.

“When the lad who overtook came and looked at my car, he cried,” he said. “He wasn’t local and didn’t know the road. It was pitch black, and he’d have been looking for headlights but wouldn’t have seen them,” he added.

He hopes his suggestions could prevent another accident. “It seems to be a well-known danger zone, so why the heck has nothing been done?” he said. “It flabbergasts me. I don’t want someone else to die.”

Hillingdon Council’s deputy chief executive, Jean Palmer, told the Gazette: “A number of improvements such as signs, road markings and anti-skid surfacing have been made to Harvil Road, but we always welcome suggestions from residents.

“The issue will be discussed with our partners in emergency services and the local bus company at our next road traffic liaison meeting.”

Harvil Road would be a main transport route for HS2 construction traffic if the high speed rail line is built.

Mr Sephton’s mission has come at a poignant time. On Wednesday last week, the anniversary of Louise Clark’s death, her family and friends had drinks, lit sparklers and laid flowers on her memorial bench in the pub garden