Carrwood Road won’t see new safety measures despite campaign

Lancashire County Council has said it is going to ‘prioritise’ road safety issues but has confirmed Carrwood Road will not see any extra measures.

This comes as three local residents have been campaigning for road safety improvements on Carrwood Road at Walton Park.

They have said there is “evidence to show that the 30mph speed limit is regularly exceeded” and that the council is “letting people down”.

However, the council has now confirmed that the area is not on the list for receiving road safety improvements.

A spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said: “We’re very aware of the concerns which people have raised about speeding on Carrwood Road and we have attended two on-site meetings with a local residents group.

“We have thoroughly considered the residents’ concerns but as the Highway Authority, we look to prioritise our resources as effectively as possible to serve the residents and road users in Lancashire.

“Our current priority is to target those resources at locations with a proven road safety issue. In addition, our schemes should also contribute to the improvement of the wider highway network.

“Carrwood Road has a good road safety record, therefore we cannot recommend further highway measures on this road at the present time.”

One campaigner said that they have asked the council to provide a formal pedestrian crossing and a footpath.

They said: “Lancashire County Council use a formula to determine whether to fund road safety projects. This formula depends on people being killed or seriously injured.

“So far we have been lucky that no-one has been killed or seriously injured on Carrwood Road. There have been near misses but apparently these don’t count.

“We have challenged Lancashire County Council about their formula but they refuse to change to a more preventative approach and stick rigidly to a formula that relies on historical casualty data.

“We have also challenged Lancashire County Council about a number of decisions they have taken which seem to lack basic common sense.”

How campaigners responded to county council

Peter Tickle who is one of the campaigners responded to Lancashire County Council’s statement by saying it has “failed in it’s duty”.

He told Blog Preston: “The main issue here is that traffic volumes have increased dramatically since Carrwood Road became the Cross Borough LInk Road in 2020 and that Lancashire County Council have failed in their duty to make road safety improvements to keep people safe when crossing the road.

“The council highlight speeding as the main concern but they are missing the point. Yes of course we are very concerned about vehicle speeds as the 30 mph limit is often exceeded but we are also very concerned that the road now carries over 12,000 vehicles a day. The risk to pedestrians and mobility scooter users is obviously much higher now than before the link road opened.”

He went on to add that he does not “accept” the council has “considered the concerns of residents” and they are “ensuring that crossing the road will be hazardous, especially for the elderly and disabled, and schoolchildren”.

He finished by saying: “It is true that Carrwood Road has a good safety record – so far we have been lucky. Having been provided with lots of evidence, including evidence of near misses and the inadequacies of current crossing facilities, the council should act to build a pavement and pedestrian crossing to prevent people being killed or seriously injured.

“Relying on their outdated policy of reacting to historic casualty data which requires people to be killed or injured is unacceptable.”

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