AN accident-hit rural route is to come under the scrutiny of road safety experts.

Speed checks in Durham Lane, Egglescliffe, are guaranteed as engineers study calls for an upgrade of the unlit road linking the growing Tees suburb and its business parks with the A66.

Egglescliffe Parish Council is calling for action following a spate of accidents on the winding road.

Engineer and parish councillor Harry Alderton admitted yesterday: "It is not a road I would choose to drive on at night time."

He is presenting the community's concerns to an area road safety committee while the council sends a written call for action to highways authority, Stockton Borough Council.

A car overturned near a bend in Durham Lane, recently, just days after fire fighters freed a motorist trapped in another car smash.

Two men died in a two car smash on the same stretch in June last year.

The year before a motor cyclist lost a leg in an accident.

Mr Alderton said: "I think Durham Lane would come under the category of a rural road and we have concerns about excess speeds and people not driving to a speed appropriate for that type of road.

"The speed limit is 60mph, which is the national speed limit, but the road is windy.

"It's a dark road at night, with quite a few industrial accesses with poor edge definition where you only have headlights to see where you are going."

Helen Rennison, clerk to the parish council, said: "We are very concerned about Durham Lane especially with vehicles turning off the A66 which is brightly lit on to Durham Lane which is pitch dark at night.

"We are writing to Stockton council and asking them to look at possibly upgrading this road."

Parish council vice-chairwoman Sue Ireland, who favours the introduction of street lighting, said: "What we are saying is safety is paramount and it is not just speed, it is everything we want looked at.''

Stockton council road safety expert Neil Ellison said: "We will look very closely at what their concerns are.

"We will consider the accident record, will probably get speed surveys done, and will look positively at what they say.