“We know all about the bends of death,” says Graham Grove of the Royal Berkshire ambulance service in Reading — usually the first man to hear of collisions on the A4074. “When the call comes through that there has been an accident on that road we know it is going be bad.”

So what makes this stretch of road so treacherous and what is being done about it? The bends begin a few miles outside Reading just before the A4074 crosses the county boundary between Oxford and Berkshire. With the Chilterns in the distance it winds through a wooded landscape classified as an area of outstanding natural beauty.

But motorists take it at their peril. Since 1999 there have been 10 fatalities on the winding 4½ miles between Chazey Heath and Woodcote. On the same lethal stretch there have been 49 reported collisions in which 75 people have been injured in the past five years.

In all, it has an accident rate of 53 per 100m vehicle kilometres travelled — nearly 70% higher than the national average for a road of its type. The figures do not include accidents where no injuries were reported which, according to research last month, could mean the true figure is 25% higher.

At a time when road deaths in Britain are at an all-time low — 3,221 in 2004, down from 3,508 the previous year — the bends of death remain stubbornly at odds with the trend: they have posted a constant mortality rate of roughly one person per year since 1980.

Many drivers who find themselves approaching the bends do not consider themselves to be on a dangerous road, even though the signs say otherwise. The surface is newly laid, the bends look smooth if a little narrow, and the thick double white line running down the middle indicates that there will be no traffic overtaking on the other side.

Except often there is. Driver frustration is a key cause of accidents on this stretch. The nature of the road means that cars stuck behind slow-moving traffic are tempted to pass between the bends. And because the trees on either side obscure the road ahead it can be a fatal manoeuvre.

At night, when the majority of accidents occur, there is little lighting to warn drivers of the bends ahead and trees along the road invariably mean a hard impact for those who lose control.

But local people say there is also something else in the nature of the road that lulls drivers into a false sense of security. David Walker, whose mother was hit by a car on it six months ago (she wasn’t seriously injured), says the road is a kind of Bermuda Triangle for drivers. “It looks like a good surface and if you take the bends at 30-40mph it’s fine, but take them at 55mph or 60mph and the road suddenly changes — it’s like it comes alive.”

Rob Wilson, Conservative MP for Reading East, has no doubts about the dangers posed by it: he has been campaigning on behalf of constituents for action.

“It is one of the most dangerous roads in the country,” he says. “There need to be better road markings, improved lighting, more chevrons, more warning signs and it needs widening and straightening to give drivers a better view. We have had dozens of deaths on that road and they will continue to come because it’s a road not fit for purpose at the moment.”

Traffic on the A4074 has increased dramatically in recent years and because the road winds through a conservation area, changes such as road widening are hard to push through.

Even when a strategy is agreed it is not always successful: Oxford county council has just presented a plan to build traffic islands at one intersection, but Woodcote parish council rejected the proposal, saying it does not go far enough.

Geoff Barrell, Oxford county council’s chief road safety engineer, is aware of the problem but says there are few alternatives. “The obvious answer to the bends of death is a bypass and it was considered, but the conditions for that solution have changed now in terms of cost, the environment and government policy,” he says.

“We could put up more signs but then we have to contend with the campaign for the preservation of rural England. We could reduce the speed limit but realistically people wouldn’t drive at 30mph on that rural road, and we could erect side barriers but in many ways it is better that the car runs off the road rather than being pushed back into the path of an oncoming car. It’s one thing looking at where (accidents) are occurring; it is another knowing what we can do that is affordable that will make a difference.”

This doesn’t wash with Ellie King, who says her husband might still be alive if bends had been straightened and trees removed.

“It’s hard when you’re grieving not to see beyond the tip of your own nose, because you’re so enveloped,” she says. “But there are a lot of other families. That road has taken so many people, hurt so many people. I’ve lost everything: my husband, my business, my home, all because of this road.”

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