A worried student is pleading with drivers to take extra care at a ‘hotspot’ crossing in Sheepridge.

Sarah Palmer, 26, says motorists are regularly failing to stop at a zebra crossing in Deighton Road – even when people are on it.

And she has just witnessed a near-miss when a young girl was halfway across the road when a taxi ‘flew’ out of another road and straight across without slowing.

“He was just centimetres away from her,” said Sarah. “I beeped my horn at him but he just made an abusive gesture and drove off. I thought: ‘what an idiot.’”

Sarah managed to note the name of the taxi firm on the side of the car and rang them when she arrived at her destination.

“They denied all knowledge,” she said. “They just didn’t care.”

Sarah, who is studying for a primary school teaching degree at Huddersfield University, says this is by no means the first time something like this has happened at the top of Deighton Road near the junction with Wiggan Lane.

“I go along that road at least three times a day,” she said. “And nine times out of ten cars just fly over the crossing. Drivers must think that if someone is halfway across it’s OK to go.”

She says she pleaded with the taxi firm to talk to the drivers but accepts it is not just cabs which are at fault.

“I appeal to drivers to watch out and take care and not to drive with earphones in as that is so dangerous,” said Sarah, who lives in Bradley.

And she warned: “I now have a camera which I will use to record those who breach the rules.”

Student Sarah Palmer concerned over drivers failing to stop for pedestrians walking across a Zebra crossing on Deighton Road.