YOUNG and old have joined forces to call for vital road safety improvements in Birdsedge.
Earlier this year pensioner Beryl Smith was almost killed as she was sucked into the busy A629 Penistone Road by a passing freight lorry.
After Beryl’s brush with death, Rena Cage, a retired nurse who treated Beryl’s gushing wounds, vowed to campaign for some kind of crossing to be be installed.
Mrs Cage said she wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if a small child had been injured or killed and she had done nothing.
And backing Mrs Cage are the youngsters of Birdsedge First School, who have designed their preferred road-safety measures to make getting to school a bit safer.
Mrs Cage has now handed her 169 strong petition to the deputy leader of Kirklees Council, Denby Dale ward member Clr Jim Dodds.
She said: “People here in the village feel that we’re a forgotten area. The majority feel that we could do with a zebra crossing with lights outside the school and at the other end of the village.”
Mrs Cage said she disputed Kirklees Council statistics that 85% of traffic through the village was travelling below the speed limit and said she had written to the Highways Department to lodge her objections.
Birdsedge School classroom assistant Lorraine Baker said it was a struggle for youngsters and older people to cross the road safely.
“It takes so long for a gap to come and then when you do cross you have to run because the cars come at a very fast speed –- motorbikes are even faster.
“It’s very difficult for old people to cross to get to the bus stop,” she added.
Clr Dodds confirmed that he had received the petition and had passed it on for consideration and said work was already underway to test the feasibility of implementing a traffic island, a pelican crossing and a footpath.
