RESIDENTS have called for a crackdown on drivers using their street as a ‘rat-run’ after a lamp-post was ripped out of the ground in a crash.

The plea came after a Vauxhall Astra crashed into a parked Volkswagen Polo in Parsonage Road, Roe Lee, Blackburn, on Saturday morning.

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Now a petition has been set up demanding traffic-calming measures are installed along the residential stretch of the road.

The collision, just before 4am on Saturday, saw the road sealed off for more than an hour after it was littered with debris from the two cars and a lamppost.

The driver of the Astra has not been accused of breaking the speed limit, but Adam Hawra, 26, who witnessed the aftermath of the smash, said he and his neighbours were generally fed-up at motorists speeding on the approach to a bend at the bottom of a hill on the road.

He said: “We’re not sure yet what specifically can be done, whether it’s making the road 20mph or putting in speed bumps, but we need some sort of general traffic-calming measures to prevent the vehicles from reaching the speeds they are able to now. There are signs there saying there are speed cameras but there aren’t, and they just get ignored.”

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The road straddles the Blackburn-Ribble Valley boundary, with the built-up eastern end in Roe Lee, and the rural eastern section in Wilpshire.

Blackburn with Darwen Council said it was carrying out a pilot study of 20mph zones in Mill Hill before considering whether to roll out the limit throughout the borough, as has been done in Lancashire County Council-controlled areas. A council spokesman said: “If a petition is submitted we will review it, like we always do.

“The council takes road safety incredibly seriously and a road safety champion has been appointed in Coun Stephanie Brookfield, who is working to get people’s views.”

Labour Councillor Phil Riley added: “The ward councillors have already asked for traffic-calming measures on that road in relation to a planning application for 85 homes around 200 metres from this incident, so it could be ideal timing.”

l A Rishton man has been charged with drink-driving in relation to the Parsonage Road crash. Graeme Berry, 25, of Knowles Street, has been bailed to appear at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court on October 6.