CAMPAIGNERS formed a human chain to stop traffic in a busy road where an elderly woman was killed.

It was the latest action in their long-running battle for a pedestrian crossing in Preston Old Road, Cherry Tree, Blackburn,

The protest was organised after 80-year-old Hilda Clutton, of the Crescent, was involved in a collision with a car as she crossed the road near her home on Friday evening. She suffered a fractured shoulder and died in hospital on Sunday.

Campaigner Dianne Finch said local people had wanted a crossing on the road since a child was killed there 20 years ago.

Their campaign was stepped up this year following a serious accident involving six-year-old schoolgirl Camilla Abdel-Aziz. She suffered head injuries. Dianne said: "It is a busy place because there is a school, a doctor's surgery and a library there.

"This was an accident waiting to happen. It was always going to take something like this to get something done.

"It is not safe and we have got to think about the safety of our children and all the other people who need to cross the road there."

A spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said a proposal for "a crossing facility" would be submitted for the 1998/99 small improvements programme.

But Dianne said that could simply mean an island built in the road - which would not be enough.

"We need something to stop the traffic, and this tragedy has proved that something needs to be done now," she said.

A petition signed by 1,400 local people, calling for a crossing, was presented to Blackburn MP Jack Straw in July.

The driver of the Ford Escort car involved in the fatal collision was Simon Douglas, 33, of Broadway, Morecambe.

Police are appealing for witnesses of the accident, which happened at 6.15pm on Friday, to contact them on 01254 51212.

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