Brownhills schoolboy death sparks petition for better safety measures on road
A petition calling for pedestrian crossings to be built on a busy road where a 12-year-old schoolboy died has been started by campaigners.
Jack Garrington was knocked down by a lorry in Chester Road in Brownhills near the Anchor pub on Thursday.
He died at the scene of the crash despite efforts to save him.
Now residents are calling for traffic calming measures to be put in place along Chester Road North. They also want to see Lindon Road's zebra crossing replaced with traffic lights.
Today ward councillor David Turner gave his support to the petition.
He said: "This section of Chester Road down to Newton Road is one of the busiest in the country and there have been many calls to the Highways Agency to do something about it. There are people trying to cross the busy dual carriageway while buses are stopping and starting there all the time.
"There is one pedestrian crossing and I think that there needs to be at least three, especially after what happened last week.
"It is a shame that it takes the death of a young man for a petition to be set up and for something to be done about the sitution.
"I hope the government will take notice and put in some more crossings."
The petition currently has 160 signatures while a Facebook page set up in support of road improvements has more than 2,000 supporters. The petition reads: "We have set up this petition to highlight and show Walsall MBC the strong feelings that people have regarding the lack of pedestrian crossings for the Shire Oak school children.
"Everyday the children walking up and down Chester Road have to contend with the anchor bridge and Lindon Road junction where there is a pathetic bollard and fast moving traffics.
"There is also on Lindon Road an out of the arc zebra crossing which needs to be updated to traffic lights as the cars rarely stop. No other family should have to have the heartache that Jack's family are going through right now." Since the accident scores of children have visited the scene where Jack died and left ties, flowers and tributes. The grass verge is also covered in posters filled with hand written messages.
