A FATAL crash at an accident blackspot has prompted renewed calls for the road to be turned into a dual carriageway.

Two men died on the A171 Guisborough to Scarborough road near the Stanghow turn off at Lockwood Beck on Monday evening, when their vehicles were involved in a four-car collision.

The winding single carriageway road, which takes in some of the most stunning parts of North Yorkshire, is notorious for accidents.

For years, people have been calling for the road to be made into a dual carriageway. This week's fatal crash has led to renewed calls for action to make the road safer.

Coun David Walsh, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said he was not prepared to speak on the cause of an accident before an inquest.

But he added that the cost of making the road a dual carriageway would be in excess of £1.5m-a-mile and a major improvement scheme is due to be discussed by the council's executive in the next few weeks.

Ashok Kumar, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, said he was prepared to ask the Government to consider upgrading the road.

"The figures are quite shocking and I am aware of the dangers of this road," he said. "I am happy to gain support for it to be made a dual carriageway because every life that is saved is precious."

Earlier this year police mounted a safety campaign aimed at cutting the rising toll of accidents on the road.

In the four years to May, there were 64 collisions on the moors road in Cleveland, in which five people have been killed and 87 injured, 18 of them seriously.

On the North Yorkshire side of the road, there have been seven fatal accidents and 46 serious collisions since January, 1997.