Mum Charlene Milik’s concern for safety after Meltham Road crash

Jul 13 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Mum’s concern for safety after Meltham Road crash

A MUM living at a Huddersfield accident blackspot admitted: “I’m frightened to let my kids out of the house.”

Charlene Milik’s home is in Meltham Road at Lockwood – just a few yards from the latest accident on the same stretch of road.

And she realises she, too, had a lucky escape.

She was dropped off by a friend in a car seconds before one taxi collided head-on with another yards from where their car was parked.

“I hadn’t even reached my house when I saw it happen,” said Mrs Milik, 28.

“Sam and her husband Mark Marriott were still in their car, waiting to move off, when the taxis crashed. One had come down the road, swerved around them and hit the other.

“There was debris all around them and it’s a miracle they weren’t badly hurt or even worse.”

Police are investigating the latest accident, which left a 19-year-old girl in a hospital intensive care unit, and two others injured.

But Mrs Milik and other residents, who have seen accident after accident in recent months, believe the only way to make the road safe is to install speed humps or speed cameras.

“My husband Gavin and I have been here nine years and I have lost count of the number of crashes.

“Many are minor ones but there have been too many in which people have been killed or injured.

“I keep my front door locked because I don’t want any of the children getting outside on to the road.

“It is awful but they have already seen so much grief and tragedy. It’s not right that they should look out of their window and see people being cut out of cars.” Mrs Milik and her children – Elisha, nine, Lauren, six, Chloe, four, and Amber, three – live on a stretch of road which has seen several serious accidents in the past 12 months.

She said she rushed to help after the weekend accident.