16412/2A MOTORIST from Warminster was thrown 30ft from his car after a crash on the A36 on Saturday afternoon.

Ambulance crews feared the 29-year-old man had broken his neck, and he is still being treated in hospital for severe neck injuries.

He was driving his red Lancia Delta towards Warminster when it was involved in a collision with a Bath-bound blue Peugeot 307 at Black Dog Woods near Chapmanslade at 2.48pm.

The Peugeot driver, a 35-year-old woman from Radstock, suffered a broken back while her 15-month-old baby son, who was in the back, had chest and arm bruising. All three were taken to the Royal United Hospital, Bath.

PC Bill Brown, of Westbury traffic police, said: "For some reason the Lancia was on the wrong side of the road and the near side of the car hit the front of the Peugeot. The Lancia ended up in the offside hedgerow."

The scale of the crash saw the road closed for several hours and because it was on the Wiltshire and Somerset border emergency services from both counties were called out. Police say the Warminster man, who also suffered hand injuries, had a lucky escape.

PC Brown said: "He was thrown a long way and had a suspected broken neck. But we got there after the ambulance crew had turned up and he was chatting away by then.

"The lady was saved from a lot worse injury by the fact she had an airbag and the child seat saved the baby."

Despite repeated warnings from police the A36 around Warminster has seen several fatal crashes in recent years.

In August 43-year-old Bristol motorcyclist John Laurence was killed in a collision at Black Dog Hill just a few hundred yards from Saturday's accident.

Residents have called for clearer white line markings on the stretch to prevent motorists overtaking when going down Black Dog Hill.

But having policed the road for many years PC Brown said the solution lay in the hands of drivers.

He said: "It's not the road that's the problem, it's the people who are unable to drive carefully to the conditions of the road.

"Unfortunately it's an arterial road, which has the highest levels of traffic for Wiltshire apart from the motorway.

"There's nothing wrong with the road. It's irresponsible drivers who go along there at high speeds.

"If people are driving at 60mph in a 60mph zone in good conditions there's no problem."

l A TRAPPED woman had to be cut free from her car after a crash in Warminster.

The accident on Boreham Road at about 5.10pm on Tuesday, involved a Porsche and a Ford Fiesta.

Two fire engines, one emergency rescue unit and 16 firefighters from Warminster and Trowbridge attended the scene.

Firefighters used hydraulic and electrical cutting equipment to release the female driver from her Porsche.

She was taken to the Royal United Hospital, Bath, with injuries not thought to be life-threatening.