LARGE areas of East Lancashire have streets of terraced housing built when car ownership was confined the richest one or two per cent of the population.

Today there is a vehicle for virtually every home and some have several.

And this is one reason why Blackburn with Darwen is officially the worst council area in England for the number of under-16s killed or badly injured on its roads. Nothing can be done about car ownership or narrow, cluttered streets but we CAN attack the other main cause of this carnage – drivers going too fast for the road conditions.

Elsewhere lowering speed limits from 30mph to 20mph has been proved to work in reducing accidents involving pedestrians and it has to happen here too.

That’s why today sees the launch of the Lancashire Telegraph’s 20 Is Plenty campaign to urge both Blackburn with Darwen and Lancashire County Councils to commit to rolling out 20mph limit zones throughout residential areas and close to schools across East Lancashire.

At the same time we want motorists to be educated about the real difference that ten miles per hour can make to life and limb.