Lostock Hall woman calling for highway bosses to rereview 'dangerous' pedestrian crossing

Beverley Sharp, of Boegrave Avenue, said she has had several close calls while using the pedestrian crossing outside The Wishing Well pub in Brownedge Road, Lostock Hall.

She claims that Lancashire County Council needs to reinspect it before an accident occurs.

"I have nearly been knocked down several times while crossing because of cars zooming through on red," Beverley added.

"Someone is seriously going to get hurt. Does someone have to die before something is done? If this ever happens the person in charge won't have a guilty conscience. They will carry on as normal, see their families, but the person who gets killed leaves a family in bits and grieving and thinking it could have all been preventable."

She added that she is particularly concerned about older people who take longer to cross the road, as the green man goes off before pedestrians have even made it half way. She also said the light indicating when it is safe to cross is still not clearly visible and the crossing still does not bleep.

The sequencing of the traffic lights causes traffic problems, resulting in cars being stuck over the crossing, according to fellow resident Chris Eccles.

He added: "This leaves them in no man's land when the lights change and the green man crossing light comes on. Maybe better crossing markings and yellow cross boxes over the junction might help! But it is a nightmare at busy times."

Some cars also drive through on red and stop on the crossing when the green man comes on, according to Beverley.

She added: "They have no respect and when we go to cross in front of them, as the green man is on, they beep their horns or start shouting abuse and it's them who are in the wrong," she said.

"Before all this, the lights would turn to red, then there was a few seconds' delay before the green man came on, so there was extra time for cars to go off the crossing. Now you don't even get that."

Resident Callum Lichtie McEachnie said he has also complained to Lancashire County Council after being abused by drivers and nearly hit a couple of times while using the crossing.

Coun. Matthew Trafford, of Lostock Hall, has previously campaigned for the council to review the crossings.

He said: "It's totally shambolic. This crossing is clearly dangerous. I know it, our residents know it and most importantly Lancashire County Council knows it.

"I’m amazed that an LCC spokesperson chose to say they were unaware of any issues, because they are. I’ve reported it, other residents have reported it and I even met with the relevant LCC cabinet member about it.

"It's about time this is fixed, like they’ve promised to do, before someone gets hurt."

Lancashire County Council inspectors reviewed the crossing last week.

A council spokesman said: "Following the concerns raised we have inspected this crossing and found no issues with the timings or conflict with traffic.

"The green man is timed to go out in order to stop new people from crossing the road, but those already on the crossing should still have time to cross before the traffic signals for vehicles changes."