A FATAL accident has prompted a call for urgent action to cut the number of deaths and injuries on a country road blackspot.

A man died on Friday after a five-vehicle crash on the A171 Whitby to Guisborough road.

Police have appealed for witnesses to the crash, in which 48-year-old Roger Geoffrey Flower of Captain Cook, Staithes, North Yorkshire, was killed.

Mr Flower is the third person to have died on the notorious road this year and is believed to be the tenth person to have died in the last six years.

The accident happened around 4pm about 150 metres from the Jolly Sailors pub near Loftus and involved four cars and a lorry.

Redcar and Cleveland councillor Steve Kay of Moorsholm uses the moors road every day and has himself been involved in a crash. He said: "I'm sad about this crash, that yet again someone has died.

'I and Councillor Bruce Mackenzie have urged both North Yorkshire and Redcar and Cleveland councils to work together to make the road safer.

"It's infamous as a fast road, even though it's single carriageway. The problem is that it undulates and winds, so overtaking is risky. Something needs to be done."

To convert the road to a safer dual-carriageway would cost an estimated £30m, which has proved prohibitive in the past.

But the Government announced a £180bn road improvement programme last month. Coun Kay said the road could be improved with a share of this bonanza.

However, Insp Mick Bennett, a traffic inspector with Cleveland Police, said: "We have looked at the last few accidents that have occured on this road and there are no emerging patterns. There have been various causes that have contributed to the accidents and there is no one solution."

Witnesses to the crash are asked to contact PC Michael Woodhouse, of Cleveland Police traffic unit, on (01642) 301558