DECISION-makers at county hall have been accused of "manipulating statistics" over the number of accidents on a busy section of the A338.

In September, the mayors of Ringwood and Fordingbridge, cllrs Michael Thierry and Malcolm Connolly, called for Hampshire County Council to drop the speed limit on the A338 between their two towns from 60mph to 50mph in an attempt to improve road safety.

But while the council has now carried out a review, it dismissed the call for lowering the speed limit, saying the section was a "low priority" because it had a "relatively good road safety record".

In a letter to the two mayors, traffic and safety assistant manager Martin Wiltshire said the accident rate for the road between Ringwood and Fordingbridge for the five year period ending July 2016 is 213 per billion vehicle kms compared to the expected rate for a combined rural and urban A road being 282 accidents per billion vehicle kms.

He also said that in a high proportion of the most serious accidents on the route, the highway layout was not deemed to be factor, instead being caused by "medical episodes... or the influence of drink and/or drugs".

Discussing the response at a Ringwood planning, town and environment committee meeting on Friday, councillor Philip Day said: "I think they are playing with statistics - the fact of the matter is there is a huge number of vehicles travelling up and down the A338 and it's all very good to say its 213 per billion vehicle kms whereas the expected rate is 282.

"I suspect the number of billion vehicle kms travelled along the A338 between Ringwood and Salisbury is vastly more than comparable routes elsewhere in the country.

"The other thing is they don't give actual figures for the number of people that have been killed in recent times on that road. They are manipulating statistics and a letter should go back to them where it is pointed out we do not regard it as a satisfactory reply because x number of people have died."

However councillor Tim Ward said it was important to note the causes of the accidents, saying: "Some of the fatalities have been as a result of being under the influence of drink or drugs and medical episodes.

"In recent times, I think all the ones I'm aware of have been because of those factors and the other more minor accidents are driver-created.

"The road is safe if you drive along it at a safe speed and aware of your surroundings. This is no different to any other road in the country. To try and single it out to suggest that what, we put a bypass in or something is out of the question.

"A reduction in a speed limit might help on the straight stretch between Fordingbridge coming down to the start of the bends because those bends can catch people unawares sometimes but that's about the only thing I can see it's possible to do."

Councillors agreed to inform the county council its response was inadequate, saying it was incompatible with a decision to impose a 50mph limit on the southern part of the A338 towards Sopley and that it involved desktop-bound statistics rather than an examination of deaths on the roads.

In June, a 75-year-old man, from South Wales, died near Ringwood on the A338 while in May, cyclist Richard White, 70, was killed on the same road after he was struck by a vehicle near Fordingbridge.