By RUTH LOGNONNE

Published at 09:51, Friday, 09 October 2009

DESPITE a 1,000 name petition and a major publicity campaign, Northumberland County Council is refusing to provide a pedestrian crossing outside Hexham's Queen Elizabeth High School.

The council said this week a crossing would probably be ignored by children of high school age.

The decision has outraged Steve and Kath Barrett, whose 13-year-old son Jake was seriously injured when he was knocked down by a car outside the school last year.

For they were told by a county councillor that if Jake has died in the accident, a crossing would have been created straight away.

Mr Barrett said: “They’ve repainted the double yellow lines on the road and added another bus bay, but that’s it.

“There’s not even a sign along the road telling drivers there’s a school opposite, and there’s no speed limit sign there either.

“The council has as good as told us it will do nothing to prevent a child from being run over outside the school.

“The terrible thing is, the next victim might not be as lucky as our Jake.

“We’re not asking for the council to change the world – just for people’s children to be safe at school.”

The Barretts launched a petition in April for a school crossing to be created on Whetstone Bridge Road, which attracted 1,000 signatures.

Jake was on his way home from school on October 9 last year when he was knocked down.

He required emergency surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain, and was given only a 50:50 chance of survival.

Mr Barrett said: “He’s fine now, and bounced back from it better than we have, but this is the kind of shock that will live with any parent forever.

“What frightens us is that the same accident could happen to somebody else a year after Jake was knocked down.”

The case was taken up by Liberal Democrat MEP for the North-East Fiona Hall, who was given the news this week that the petition had been in vain.

A Northumberland County Council spokesman said: “Surveys showed that the level of pedestrian/vehicle activity was low when compared with other requested locations across the county.

“The alignment of Whetstone Bridge Road also suggests that the siting of a controlled crossing would be problematic, and could potentially exacerbate road safety problems.

“It is often the case that pedestrians are less aware and cautious at such installations and assume that vehicles will afford them priority, which is not always the case.

“Experience at other locations suggests that where roads are not difficult to cross, patrol operators and pedestrians crossings are often ignored and bypassed by high school children.”

The county council is in the process of considering imposing six pilot 20 mph locations in various parts of the county, and both Whetstone Bridge Road and a neighbouring accident black spot on Allendale Road are both contenders for the measures.

Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk