Four dead in road carnage

Four men died and at least two other crash victims were rushed to hospital in a weekend of carnage on the roads across the Black Country and Staffordshire.

Two motorcyclists were killed in Willenhall and Bridgnorth, while a pedestrian died after being hit by a car in Kidderminster.

The M6 was also shut for more than seven hours yesterday after two cars collided in the early hours.

Colin Butler, aged 21, had been riding his blue Yamaha R6 on the busy Black Country Route on Saturday when he was in collision with a van and a Vauxhall Corsa. Police closed sections of the dual carriageway for more than six hours following the crash, near to the Poundland site in Willenhall, at 1.20pm.

Mr Butler, from Wolverhampton, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Another motorcyclist died yesterday after colliding with a car on the notorious A458 Stourbridge Road in Bridgnorth.

The man, in his 40s, had been riding the Suzuki motorcycle towards Stourbridge when it hit a red Mitsubishi Spacewagon heading towards Bridgnorth. The rider was flown to Birmingham's Selly Oak Hospital but he died on the way.

Three hours later a cyclist was taken to Princess Royal Hospital in Telford with head injuries after a collision with a car at the junction of New Road and Underhill Street, Bridgnorth.

Another man died after being hit by a Fiat Stilo car in Kidderminster in the early hours of Sunday along the A449 Worcester Road.

A man with head injuries had to be cut from his vehicle following a smash on the M6 just after Junction 11 near Cannock at about 5.25am yesterday. The road was closed for seven-and-a-half hours. In Stoke-on-Trent, a man died after a crash in London Road, at 9 o'clock last night.