AT first glance it seems astonishing that a rural road running from Barrowford through part of the Ribble Valley to Long Preston in North Yorkshire should be one of the world's ten most dangerous highways.

But anyone who regularly travels on the A682 especially north of Gisburn will realise why it apparently carries similar risks to Portugal's Algarve coast road, the route into Baghdad, the fast boulevard around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and the notoriously dangerous road between the Indian capital of Delhi and Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.

The problem is too much speed and impatience on an often narrow and winding highway, especially by motorcyclists.

Drivers and riders pull out to overtake slower traffic without having proper vision and the result is frequently a fatal collision with oncoming traffic.

With so many different methods of 'traffic management' available including cameras, chicanes and roundabouts, it seems strange that the two county councils have been unable to reduce such a worrying death toll.

Especially as the volume of traffic using the A682 is a tiny fraction of that using the other highways around the world.