ROAD safety campaigners are clamouring for improvements to the A64's drains after an inquest revealed a motorist died because of excessive water on the road.

The calls following claims by a senior North Yorkshire coroner that improvements should be made to parts of the main road's drainage.

North Yorkshire East coroner Michael Oakley told an inquest he intends to write the Highways Agency asking for the system to be improved.

The inquest heard that a newly-qualified driver swerved into another car at East Heslerton after hitting a large area of water. The other driver, 31-year-old John Everitt, from Castleford, near Leeds, died of his injuries the following day at York District Hospital.

The driver of the first vehicle, Lisa Burdett, of Norton, was driving a BMW on the A64 at the time of the accident, which happened in August.

In a statement she said she had hit a deep pool of water during torrential rain which had pulled her towards the kerb and then into the middle of the road.

The widow of the deceased told how she had asked her husband to take over driving duties at Staxton roundabout because of severe weather conditions.

Traffic constable Graham McCulloch, an accident investigator, said he thought the highway authority was considering putting in a further drainage system at the accident spot.

"I believe the drainage was unable to cope with the volume of water - it was the catalyst which caused the accident."

Cyril Shreave, chairman of the Malton, Norton and District Road Safety Committee, said the tragedy proved more work needed to be done.

"This is an issue the committee has discussed recently and the drains need cleaning out more regularly," he said.

A spokesperson from the Highways Agency said police said staff had been asked to look at the site.

"We have carried out a survey and there don't appear to be any low lying areas on the carriageway where water could gather, but we are looking to see if any measures need to be taken to improve the road at this location.

"Our general policy is that drainage gullies are cleared out once a year. Any problems with drainage are noted during our regular maintenance checks and dealt with as required. This has been our policy on drainage gullies for a number of years"

Updated: 13:32 Wednesday, November 28, 2001