Call for traffic-slowing measures at Chorley accident blackspot

There are calls for safety measures to be introduced on a road in Chorley which has seen the same lamppost struck twice in the space of a year.
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In the most recent of the two crashes, three people were badly hurt when the car in which they were travelling left Clayton Brook Road in Clayton Brook. Two of the occupants had to be freed from the wreckage - in the early hours of 16th October - after the vehicle hit a streetlamp on a sweeping bend opposite Croft Meadow.

Nearby resident Alyson Wilkinson says she and other locals have long been concerned about the stretch of road where the accidents have occurred - because it is devoid of the traffic-calming measures installed elsewhere on the more than mile-long route.

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There are no traffic-calming measures on the stretch of Clayton Brook Road where a lamppost has been struck twice in a year (image: Neil Cross)There are no traffic-calming measures on the stretch of Clayton Brook Road where a lamppost has been struck twice in a year (image: Neil Cross)
There are no traffic-calming measures on the stretch of Clayton Brook Road where a lamppost has been struck twice in a year (image: Neil Cross)
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“We have now had these two accidents within 12 months of each other - and it’s just a death waiting to happen.

“My children walk around there with our dog and all it takes is for one of those vehicles to go off and hit someone on the footpath - it’s horrific enough what has already happened,” Alyson said.

Clayton Brook Road was assessed by the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership in both December 2019 and April this year after speed concerns were lodged. On each occasion, the 30 mile-per-hour route was given a risk rating of “overall high”, based on speed and collision data - but the road already receives mobile speed enforcement and no further action was recommended.

However, Alyson says that the road-narrowing safety features seen elsewhere on Clayton Brook Road - which create single-file pinch points requiring drivers to give way to oncoming traffic - should be extended to the site of the two recent crashes.

Some sections of Clayton Brook Road have traffic-slowing measures like this one (image: Google)Some sections of Clayton Brook Road have traffic-slowing measures like this one (image: Google)
Some sections of Clayton Brook Road have traffic-slowing measures like this one (image: Google)
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Speaking generally about the situation in the area, she added: “There is speeding going on up and down that road all the time - you hear the boy racers making [their cars] really roar.

“But people are often overtaking dangerously as well - because it’s a 30 mile-per-hour road, people will frequently overtake doing way more than that. There are lots of blind bends and turns, so it's really quite dangerous,” Alyson said.

Michelle Le Marinel, who is standing for election in the Clayton East, Brindle and Hoghton ward on Chorley Council next year, is setting up a petition calling for action at a location that she has branded “a death trap” - and of which she has first-hand experience.

She says that when she visited the accident blackspot recently she was nearly “wiped out by a speeding car” as she pulled out to leave.

Alyson Wilkinson and Michelle Le Marinel opposite the demolished lamppost on Clayton Brook RoadAlyson Wilkinson and Michelle Le Marinel opposite the demolished lamppost on Clayton Brook Road
Alyson Wilkinson and Michelle Le Marinel opposite the demolished lamppost on Clayton Brook Road
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Asked if the authority had any plans for new traffic-calming measures on Clayton Brook Road, a spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said: "As part of our work with the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership we will consider what more can be done to improve road safety at this location once we know the outcome of investigations and understand the cause of these collisions."

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