Concern is mounting across Cumbria’s district council of South Lakeland over road safety.
In 2018, there were a total of 70 people who were killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions in the South Lakeland district. Across the whole county, there were 30 fatalities as a result of road vehicle crashes, as well as 314 people being seriously injured during the same time period.
Andrew Butcher serves as a Councillor on Ulverston Town Council and believes that more needs to be put in place to improve these statistics and the safety of the council’s roads.
Councillor Butcher said: “We definitely need to lower the numbers. The main thing is the A590 – that is a serious problem. I imagine collisions on the A590 will make up a significant number of the figure. It must be one of the worst roads in Cumbria.
“We need a better road system – I think a bridge across the bay would work brilliantly. I think it would dramatically reduce collisions as less and less people would use the A590.”
Cumbria County Council’s (CCC) cabinet member for highways and transport, Councillor Kieth Little, stated that the council was “well aware” of these tragedies.
Councillor Little went on to say: “Often it is young people and speeding can be a factor as well as other road conditions. It’s always really a tragedy for families and friends when this happens.
“It’s not all down to driver care – we need to be more mindful of cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians which are often victims in these crashes.”
In a CCC meeting group, Cumbria Road Safety Partnership Coordinator Chris Broadbent explained that the group was urgently searching to fund a new initiative called ‘Safe Drive, Stay Alive’, with some funding in place already for a launch across Cumbria.
It was also raised at this meeting that the partnership has nominated a ‘casualty reduction officer’ to serve each of the county’s local committee boundaries: Allerdale, Carlisle, South Lakeland, Eden, Copeland and Barrow.
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