Tributes have been paid to a former councillor who was killed on a road he had campaigned to make safer.
John Michael Duggan, 81, died in hospital after a collision between his car and a skip lorry on Friday morning on a section of the A19 he had previously highlighted as being dangerous.
Councillor Stephanie Duckett described Mr Duggan as a “fantastic” man who was “very passionate” about the village of Riccall, between Selby and York.
She said: “He was very much Mr Riccall, anything he could do he would for that village.
“John was one of those people who once you met him, you didn’t forget him. When he walked into a room everybody knew straight away he was there.
“He was a brilliant man and loyal friend.”
Mr Duggan was joining the A19 northbound at Riccall from the York Road junction when his Nissan Juke collided with a truck.
The driver, a 42-year-old man from York, was arrested at the scene and was assisting officers with enquiries, according to North Yorkshire Police.
As a parish councillor for Riccall, Mr Duggan had petitioned for changes to the layout of the A19 through the village as far back as 2007 and had called for a roundabout to be built.
He told the York Press newspaper in August that year that a junction on the road had been the site of numerous accidents and two fatalities.
He said: “The stretch of the A19 that runs past Riccall is one of the fastest sections of the road, and the speed of traffic using this section is totally unacceptable to local people who are trying to enter and exit the village.”
Ms Duckett said, despite his death occurring on the next junction along to the one Mr Duggan had raised concerns about in the past, the road remained a concern.
“That road is tremendously busy and every year traffic just seems to multiply,” she said.
“At one point there was money for the roundabout and it was never built and the cost now is just in the millions to do the same project.
“I honestly don’t think it’s ever going to get done.”
Selby MP Keir Mather said Mr Duggan’s death highlighted the need for road safety improvements.
He said: “John was a well-known and much-loved local man, a father, uncle and a grandfather.
“He was known too for his time as a union convener, a Selby district and North Yorkshire county councillor and, perhaps most poignantly, as a campaigner for better road safety in Riccall.
“This tragedy makes awfully clear the need for road safety improvements at both A19 junctions in Riccall.”
He added: “We owe it to his memory to see action taken, and people in Riccall can be certain of my full and unwavering support.”
Mr Duggan was elected to the Riccall ward of Selby Council with the Labour party in 2019.
In 2022 he stood for Camblesforth and Carlton in the North Yorkshire Council local election but lost to Conservative councillor Mike Jordan.
