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Road is like a motorway

11/12/2003

CROSSING Princess Road is like trying to walk across a motorway - cars race past at dangerously high speeds seemingly unaware the road is surrounded by primary schools, a housing estate, a McDonalds and a petrol station.

The crossing where Adam Goulden was killed is a notorious accident blackspot, used by many families with young children, as well as by pensioners.

Since a £4 million widening scheme, which turned Princess Road from two lanes to three, drivers have treated it more like a motorway and as a result there have been countless road traffic accidents.

Three years ago, police monitored the crossing after a 12-year-old girl was left for dead by a hit-and-run driver.

And in just a three-hour period, 10 drivers were stopped for ignoring red lights. As recently as October 2003 another road survey showed cars doing speeds of up to 71mph, just outside St Ambrose Primary School.

There are traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, speed cameras and signs.

Mum Kerry Smith, 32, whose son attends Barlow Hall Primary, said: "Maybe they should put speed bumps on the road, and there should definitely be more time allowed when you are crossing the road."

Mrs Moorland, whose daughter goes to St Ambrose Primary on Princess Road, said: "It is like trying to cross a motorway - it's a nightmare."