Wigan residents call for action after multiple crashes on same road

Miles Lane in Shevington has been the scene of several collisions in recent months, one of which involved a car ploughing into a lamppost and landing on its side - a collision which tore down a telephone mast, leaving several residents without phone or internet access to this day.

Some of the concerned neighbours have contacted the council about the string of dangerous accidents, and have pleaded for action to be taken to prevent a tragedy from occurring.

Some say their appeals have been rebuffed, but the council said its safety measures were guided by the police’s accident data, adding that no recently recorded accidents were as a result of speeding.

Dave Bliss witnessed one of the recent incidents, a collision involving a car and a parked van, near the Urban Hair Salon. He contacted the town hall and the highways authority to ask if speed bumps could be installed. He said the highways team was “just not interested” in his concerns.

He said: “What is it going to take? For someone to be killed? Neighbours are fed up of the speeding up and down Miles Lane. It’s used like a race track, especially in the evenings. I feel, as do some others, that it’s going to take a serious accident, as in someone dying, before something gets done.”

Another Miles Lane resident, who asked not to be named, said: "Every day, no matter what time of day, you can see people speeding up and down this road, men and women.

"Also we have horse riders that have drivers driving too fast past them or way too close.

She added: "It's pure luck that someone has not been killed on this road."

Mark Tilley, Wigan Council’s assistant director for infrastructure and regulatory services, said: “We will always work with residents and other organisations to improve road safety for motorists and pedestrians as this is a priority for us.

“But like any other area in the borough, the council is guided by what the GM Police reports tell us and road engineers will then consider whether or not any traffic management measures might be warranted.

“The latest GM Police road casualty records for Miles Lane show there have been two injury accidents within the most recent three-year period of validated information - neither of these incidents were as a result of any speeding vehicles.

“Our proactive work with road safety colleagues across Greater Manchester and TfGM using techniques that are proven to help prevent road collisions and reduce risk to motorists and pedestrians has demonstrated fantastic results with Wigan recording the lowest amount of accidents per percentage of the population out of all the Greater Manchester boroughs.

“As always though, we are keen to work with residents and encourage everyone to let us know about their specific road safety concerns and to support our community led campaigns like the Community Speed Watch Scheme.”