CAMPAIGNERS are calling on town hall chiefs to install a crossing at a busy junction "before someone is killed".

Councillors have joined forces with Stretford residents in calling for a crossing at the junction of Park Road and Derbyshire Lane.

Ward councillors Tom Ross and Steve Adshead have added their voices to a more than 1,500 name petition raised by lead campaigner Natalie Levy.

Cllr Ross has now written to council chief executive Theresa Grant and the executive member for highways, parks and environment Brian Shaw demanding that they listen to residents’ concerns.

Ms Levy said: “There is currently no safe way to cross any of the four roads at the Park Road/Derbyshire Lane junction.

“Pedestrians are risking life and limb crossing these heavily trafficked roads as there is not enough time in between each light sequence to cross safely.

“The crossing ion Park Road is especially dangerous as there is a blind spot for both pedestrians and drivers when turning left from Derbyshire Lane on to Park Road towards Trafford Park.

“This is a very busy junction and regularly used by families with small children as they make their way to one of the four primary school/day nurseries and/or two parks in the vicinity.

“I use this junction four times a day during rush hour with my two children, one of whom is in a pram, and I often get caught in the middle of road and have to weave between moving traffic, which is truly terrifying.”

Cllr Ross said the issue had been raised over a number of years but the council was sticking to its policy of measuring need for a crossing by the number of incidents.

He said: “This crossing is important for two reasons the first for safety reasons.

"I have been a councillor for 10 years and pushing for something to be done because there is not a safe crossing at that point.

"Often when I have been crossing you have to wait for a gap in the traffic before you make a run for it and that is no longer acceptable.

“There has been a lot of work being done by Chris Boardman on encouraging more people to walk and from a pedestrian perspective that junction fails both on safety grounds and on Mr Boardman’s effort to make pedestrian journeys both safer and easier.”

“There are also many drivers coming from the 40mph stretch in Trafford Park flouting the 30mph speed limit, which adds to the pressure of getting across quickly.”

Ms Levy said: “The current set up is extremely dangerous and it’s a miracle no one has been killed.”

A Trafford Council spokesman said: “Following concerns raised over this junction, the request for pedestrian crossing facilities was passed to the traffic management team. 

"We are reviewing  available options and liaising with the urban traffic control team at Transport for Greater Manchester(TfGM), to survey and investigate the prioritisation of this request in line with other areas.”

The petition is at change.org/p/trafford-council-install-a-pedestrian-crossing-on-park-road-derbyshire-lane-junction-0cae9cf0-707a-48ad-a69e-6ca673902e60).