DRIVERS are calling for a lower speed limit on the notoriously dangerous A35.

And Mid Dorset and North Poole MP Annette Brooke is calling for a safety review of the entire road after 17-year-old Jo Malcolm, from Poole, died when her car hit a tree on the road earlier this week.

The manager of the garage at Bere Regis, Sandra Ivens, said: "I think that there should be a lower speed limit. We hear about so many accidents on the road and part of the problem is that drivers go too fast. I was shocked when I moved here a few years ago how fast people drive."

She said that the speed limit would need to be enforced effectively and suggested speed cameras might help.

Colleague Julie White also thought speed cameras might make the road safer by preventing speeding.

MP Annette Brooke also things that changes need to be made to make the A35 safer.

She said: "I have been calling on Dorset County Council to make improvements to that road since I was first elected and what they have done is just not enough.

"It is easy to call for a lower speed limit but if people do not obey that, it is no good. There needs to be a full review of the whole stretch of road and this should be a priority.

"The council always says it does not have enough money but we are talking about people's lives."

Tony Mackley, traffic and safety section manager for Dorset County Council, said the speed limit on the A35 would be reviewed within the next couple of years as part of a national review of the limits on all A and B roads.

He said: "Putting a 50mph limit along the whole road might be too slow in parts and in some parts 30 or 40mph might be more suitable."

He said the national speed limit was not telling drivers to go at 60mph but to use heir judgement according to the road conditions and visibility.

He added that a general review of the road was being undertaken which would consider not just the speed limit but putting up warning signs and double white lines to prevent overtaking.

He said improvements to Morden Park Corner, including widening the hard areas at the edge of the road and laying anti-slip surface, would be completed by Easter.