MOTORISTS faced delays after a car crashed into a telegraph pole on an accident blackspot.

They faced diversions when the A31 was shut for five hours after the smash at Stag Gate on Sunday morning.

A woman driving a silver Mini Cooper escaped serious injury after the collision near the Charborough Park Estate.

The incident happened at 6.01am and the road was closed in both directions for around five hours.

The road was closed at Bere Regis and the Round House roundabout. It reopened around 11am.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said they had been called by the ambulance service.

Eight officers were originally sent to the scene.

The road was closed while engineers were called to replace the telegraph pole, the police spokesperson said.

The road could not reopen until the pole was removed as it had been snapped from its base on impact.

The woman driving the silver Mini Cooper was taken to Poole General Hospital.

Her injuries were not believed to be serious.

The crash is the latest on the stretch of walled road around South Dorset MP Richard Drax’s estate.

In July a pensioner was critically injured in a collision between his Citroen convertible and a Daihatsu Hijet camper van.

He was put into a medically-induced coma at Southampton General Hospital to recover after the crash on July 9.

His wife was also injured but was discharged soon afterwards from Poole hospital shortly after the crash on Tuesday, July 9.

A retired couple, who were in their 80s, travelling in the Daihatsu Hijet motor home were also taken to hospital.

Steps have been taken to improve safety on the road where many drivers have lost control and veered into the wall.

Anti-skid surfacing has been laid at Stag Gate.

Other measures include flashing warning signs and changes to the busy junction as well as road markings and illuminated road studs.

Last year road markings were put in, along with the section of high friction surfacing.

Mr Drax welcomed moves but also previously urged the Highways Agency to do more.

“I’m encouraged by what the Highways Agency are doing, but want them to go further, sooner, and quicker,” Mr Drax said.

Around 10 to 15 cars go into the wall each year, he says.

Dorset Police recorded 22 reported contributory factors for serious accidents at Stag Gate between 2006 and May 2011.

Incidents in the last year ugust 2013: Car hits telegraph pole July 2013: Four injured in two-vehicle collision April 2013: Seven-year-old boy among casualties in two-car collision December 2011: Three cars in collision which also knocked over a telegraph pole January 2011: August Biadacz died after a crash into an oncoming vehicle April 2011: Marine Warren Jackson died after a crash in his motorcycle involving a car between Stag Gate and the World’s End January 2011: Two airlifted to hospital after a two-car crash