The road is one of the worst places in the UK for heavy goods vehicle accidents in which people are killed or injured, along with the M25 and M6.

Figures compiled by the Liberal Democrat Party reveal that in 2006, the year for which the most up-to-day data is available, there were 334 injury accidents on the A14.

Of those, 121 incidents involved lorries.

The research showed that of all the accidents on the M6, 36 per cent involved HGVs, while on the M25 it was nearly 27 per cent and 31 per cent on the M1.

Haulier Al Cousin, of Corby firm Wessex International Transport Services, said the figures may not reflect the true picture.

He said: "I have witnessed a lot of awfully bad car drivers. When I'm driving, I'm more careful around lorries than I am around cars.

"I would like to see a breakdown of the statistics involving European and non-European lorry drivers."

Kettering car driver Anita Holt said: "There are so many foreign lorries on the A14 coming from the ports and it's scary overtaking them because a lot of them are left-hand drive and there's a blind spot where they can't see you.

"It was never designed for the amount of traffic on it. I have seen some stupid driving on it in bad weather."

Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary Norman Baker said: "Some of our busiest roads are becoming lorry accident blackspots.

"Many of these are accidents that could have been avoided.Our road network is clearly not capable of dealing with the large volume of freight it carries. Ensuring more freight travels by rail would make our roads for everyone."