Road where Prince Philip crashed his Land Rover finally changes speed limit from 60mph to 50mph

The speed limit on the road where Prince Philip had a car crash is finally about to be reduced from 60mph to 50mph.

The Royal, who died aged 99 in April, escaped serious injury when his Land Rover Freelander overturned on January 17, 2019, at Babingley, Norfolk.

The incident on a stretch of the A149, which passes through the Sandringham estate, happened when Philip, then aged 97, was driving.

He is said to have been dazzled by the low-lying winter sun as he pulled out of a side road into the path of a Kia hatchback which had no time to stop.

Norfolk county councillors voted at a meeting the next day to reduce the speed limit to 50mph and bring in average speed cameras on other sections of the road.

The meeting had been arranged several weeks previously and was unconnected to Philip’s accident.

The Royal, who died aged 99 in April, escaped serious injury when his Land Rover Freelander overturned on January 17, 2019, at Babingley, Norfolk (pictured) 

The incident on a stretch of the A149, which passes through the Sandringham estate, happened when Philip, then aged 97, was driving (pictured, two days after the crash)

The proposed speed limit reduction was put on hold for a consultation period – which began in February last year – and final approval for it has only just been given.

The new 50mph limit will be introduced in the Autumn when signs go and will apply to a two-mile stretch of road between Babingley and the Dersingham roundabout.

Council documents say there have been eight personal injury accidents over the past five years with one classed as serious on the stretch.

A second area of the A149 between Snettisham and Heacham is also getting a 50mph limit, after ten injury accidents over five years with two classed as serious and one fatality.

Norfolk County Council said in a statement both stretches of the road had ‘a poor accident safety record’.

The speed limit reduction was approved, despite 42 objections and a petition with 102 signatures of people who were against it. Only 11 responses were in favour.

Six average speed cameras were installed on other sections of the road in the area in the summer of 2019.

Martin Wilby, the council’s cabinet Member for Highways, Infrastructure and Transport, said: ‘Sadly this part of the A149 has seen a number of serious accidents due to excessive speeds so I welcome this change to help make the route safer for the more than 14,000 vehicles that use it every day.

He is said to have been dazzled by the low-lying winter sun as he pulled out of a side road into the path of a Kia hatchback which had no time to stop and hit him. Pictured: A general view of the road

‘We hope this safety improvement will help to complement other recent changes along the road between King’s Lynn and Hunstanton that has seen average speed cameras installed and changes to road signs and markings.’

Philip suffered only minor cuts and bruises in his dramatic crash and agreed to surrender his driving licence afterwards. He did not face any criminal action.

Two women in the Kia were injured, and the nine-month-old baby son of one of them who was strapped into a seat in the back was unhurt.

Prince William attended at least one accident on the A149 near Sandringham when he was an air ambulance pilot based at Cambridge.