A COUNCILLOR has called for traffic-calming measures to be installed at an accident hotspot.

Mayor of Darwen Town Council Cllr Roy Davies said it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed in Olive Lane in the town.

This comes following a serious collision between three vehicles last Wednesday which landed one woman in hospital with facial injuries.

Cllr Davies said the combination of speeding cars, double parking and a blind bend make the road particularly dangerous.

He said: “There are more cars parked on Olive Lane than there have ever been.

“They park on either side of the road so only one car can get through at a time, so people speed along so they don’t have to stop and give way.

“The road has become a hotspot for bumps and near misses.

“It makes me glad I don’t have young children but, at the same time, it’s dangerous to anyone of any age — the speed they’re going.

“It’s just a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt or killed.”

Cllr Davies said he had contacted Blackburn with Darwen Council about installing measures to make the road safer but was told there have not been enough reported accidents to warrant the measures.

He said: “Every time I complain about it to the council they look through their records and say there have been no fatalities on the road.

“What has to happen for them to take action?

“It’ll take a death for them to do something, and that will be too late.

“I don’t want to be standing round saying, ‘I told you so’ when a child gets knocked down, it’s just a matter of time.”

A spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said: “Olive Lane has traffic-calming in place in the form of junction tables and a speed hump just before this bend.

“Any preventative parking measures would likely displace residents’ cars to side roads which could cause further issues.”

Sudell ward councillor Eileen Entwistle said she had been behind the installation of the speed bump over 30 years ago.

She said: “Years ago, when I was a county councillor I realised Olive Lane was being used as a rat run.

“I looked into it and found out there had been more accidents there than on Whitegate Drive in Blackpool.

“The council put speed bumps in and that slowed traffic down.

“I don’t really know what else we can do about it, it seems to be a problem everywhere. “There are a lot of 20 mile an hour zones around but people just ignore them, they do what they want.”

“If anything else can be done about it, I’m definitely in favour of it.”