Speed limit review for danger road in Westhoughton
7:30am Saturday 20th March 2010 in News
SAFETY campaigners have called for a change in the law after a youngster was left with permanent learning difficulties in a car smash.
Kristien Dunnington, aged 11, was walking home from school in September last year when he was hit crossing Wigan Road, Westhoughton.
Yesterday The Bolton News reported how the speeding teenage driver who knocked him down was banned from driving for 18 months and fined £400.
Now the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has called for tougher sentences on drivers who cause serious injuries.
Head of road safety Kevin Clinton said: “Though the driver in this case was only convicted of careless driving, there is an argument for changing the offences of causing death by careless or dangerous driving to causing death or serious injury.
“This would enable sentences to better reflect the harm caused when someone suffers a lifelong, life-changing injury.”
Bolton Council has now promised to review the speed limits on the road, which change from 40mph to 30mph shortly before the junction with Wearish Lane, where Kristien was hit.
A spokesman said: “We have been monitoring the road with a view to potentially reviewing the speed limits, and will use findings of the police investigation to inform our final decision.
“Wigan Road has also had a road safety scheme put in place involving narrowing carriageways and putting in pedestrian refuge points in the middle of the road.”
Residents have been calling for safety measures on the road for more than 10 years.
Anna-Marie Watters, chairman of Hart Common residents’ association, said: “It makes me so sad that something like this has to happen when we have been actively campaigning for so long.
“We have been telling the council the problems we face on this stretch of road and they have ignored it.
“The road is another accident waiting to happen.”
James Stanley, aged 18, of Old Vicarage, Westhoughton, this week pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention. He was banned from driving for 18 months and was fined £400. He must also pay £35 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
Bolton Magistrates’ Court heard Stanley had been travelling between 43mph and 48mph in a 30mph zone but that Kristien had run out into the road “unexpectedly”.
The court was told the accident left the youngster with “life-changing injuries” and he is still recovering in hospital.
