Wyllie Bends crash death site changes disappoint family

Family of a nurse who died driving home from work have said they are disappointed a safety barrier will not be installed where she crashed.

Laurie Jones, 23, had finished a shift at Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales and was driving home to Pontllanfraith, Caerphilly county, in the early hours of the morning.

She died after crashing at Wyllie Bends on the B4251 in October 2019.

Caerphilly council's cabinet said it would be safer with its improvements.

These include repainted road markings, more speed signs and bend marker posts, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

However, Laurie's family also wanted a new roadside barrier and better street lighting.

Laurie's death prompted her relatives to mount a tireless campaign for improved road safety measures.

They wanted the council to install a metal crash barrier between the road and the adjacent river where she drowned.

There have been two fatal crashes and 15 involving injuries on that stretch of the B4251 in the past decade, according to a road safety review.

Several measures have already been introduced, including the lowering of the speed limit from 60mph (96.5km/h) to 40mph (64km/h) and the installation of a chain-link fence.

Ynysddu councillor Jan Jones, speaking on behalf of Laurie's family, told a council meeting of their "disappointment" that a barrier had not been agreed, saying a vehicle had already driven "straight through" the chain-link fence.

Head of infrastructure Marcus Lloyd said there was a risk a barrier could be a hazard itself by causing vehicles that struck it to "rebound" back into traffic.