Hale residents call for council action after man's neck broken in car accident (From Messenger Newspapers)

Hale residents call for council action after man's neck broken in car accident

9:00am Thursday 10th January 2013 in News By Kate Banks, Reporter

AFTER a series of accidents on one Hale road — the latest of which has left a man with a broken neck — residents are calling for council action.

Paula Pollock has lived on South Downs Road for 25 years and said she has lost count of the number of times her wall and driveway have been crashed into, but has now become ‘extremely worried’ after two serious incidents took place in the space of a week.

Both crashes involved elderly, speeding drivers, the first of which took place on December 24 and the second on December 30.

In the latest incident, an elderly gentleman crashed into a West Valley Security van that was parked on Mrs Pollock’s driveway, injuring the staff member who was sat inside.

The residential security officer, who is formerly a two-time world karate champion, suffered a fractured neck as a result of the accident and the pensioner who was driving the car was taken to hospital in a neck brace.

Mrs Pollock said: “People come speeding round the corner and they don’t realise there’s a bend there.

“It’s really bad, so I don’t understand why the council don’t do something when there are so many crashes here.”

Mrs Pollock said she would like to see speed bumps, a speed camera or skid-resistant surfacing added to the road.

Executive councillor Alan Mitchell, who lives on South Downs Road himself, said: "There are no plans at present to install further traffic calming measures on South Downs Road in Hale.

“We are waiting to receive the police report regarding this latest accident.

However, our records show that there has only been one other incident at this location in the past three years which did not happen as the result of the road conditions.”

Mr Mitchell added that it is not the road, but speeding drivers which are the problem.

This is not the first time the situation on South Downs Road has been put before Trafford Council, in 2009 Messenger reported an incident of an 18-year-old girl was hospitalised for two weeks after losing control of her car on a bend further along the road.

Her mother, Kath Brickell, said: “Shortly after your article appeared they did add anti-skid surfacing to the road and I believed that had solved the problem, so it is not nice to hear that there have been accidents over Christmas.

“Does somebody have to die before it is taken seriously?”