Following a recent fatal accident and numerous other serious accidents in the last few years, two local councillors are demanding road safety improvements on a dangerous stretch of the A5209 in Lathom and Newburgh.
County Councillor David Westley and Borough Councillor Eddie Pope who both represent the area have joined forces to campaign for better road safety on Lowry Hill Road and Course Lane. This part of the A5209 is between the Ring of Bells Garage in Lathom up to the Newburgh village boundary.
Cllr Pope, said: "The A5209 for the whole of its length is inadequate for the current volume of traffic, particularly the high number of large commercial vehicles travelling to and from the M6. This particular stretch of the A5209 has a 60mph limit yet it has a number of very tight bends and pinch points. I have never understood how it is graded as an A road."
Cllr Westley, added: "There is a real problem with highway safety across rural West Lancashire due to the inadequate road network, a sustained lack of investment and insufficient enforcement by the Police. As the county councillor, I have requested a Highway Safety Report and will be pressing for improved warning signage and a reduction in the speed limit to 40mph.
The situation is not helped by the National Speed Limit that requires rural single carriageway roads to de-restricted (60mph) unless there are very good reasons such as highway safety grounds. Any proposal to reduce the speed limit below the National Speed Limit needs the approval of the Secretary of State. I am convinced that a reduction in the speed limit is fully justified."