CAMPAIGNERS are calling for safety measures to be introduced near an accident blackspot.

A string of crashes at a mini roundabout at the bottom of Cooper Lane, Shelf, has prompted petitions from concerned residents.

On Wednesday afternoon, an elderly man had to be cut from his car after a smash with a tractor.

And less than one day later, police and paramedics were called to another crash at the same junction.

One resident, who asked not be named, said there had been 10 accidents at the roundabout since September.

Amanda Schofield, who owns the nearby Space4craft shop, has set up a petition to Calderdale Council following the crashes.

She said: “My biggest worry is that they seem to happen at peak times. It’s going to hit school children. We had a customer who said she thinks of her children and was quite frightened.”

She’s now encouraging people to call into the shop and sign the petition, which is calling for “traffic lights and crash barriers for pedestrian safety” at the “notoriously dangerous” site, and is also urging people to write to the Council’s highways department to raise concerns in the hope that power in numbers will make a difference.

Another online petition named ‘Avoid Fatalities on Cooper Lane’ says: “... the said roundabout can no longer be seen as the paint has worn away, there are no lines on the junctions either nor are there any stop signs or anything of that matter to inform people that this is actually a roundabout.

“The speed at which drivers come down Cooper Lane is also an issue, I believe we would benefit from some form of speed humps or cameras to slow people down before they reach the roundabout, but at least some sort of safety sign on the roundabout. It is only a matter of time before lives are lost if something isn’t done about this, as a local resident I use these roads numerous times a day which makes me nervous, especially when I have children in the car.”

A number of comments have been left in support. One calls the roundabout “horrific”, while another says: “I crashed there and there’s been many more since and before.”

Councillor Stephen Baines (Con, Northowram and Shelf) said: “We have been fighting for a long time, hopefully this will be a turning point now that somebody has been seriously injured.”

He added that people disobeying rules was the main cause of the problems and said that he hoped something could be done to protect innocent people.