Man critical after collision with car (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Residents say road is still an accident blackspot despite reduced speed limit

7:30pm Monday 13th February 2012 in News By Dolores Cowburn

A 34-year-old man is in a critical condition with serious head injuries after he was involved in a collision with a car as he walked across a main road.

Police are appealing for witnesses following the incident on Huddersfield Road, Low Moor, close to the British Queen Pub and The Drop Kick Pub, which was the scene of a fatal road accident in 2009.

The injured man, who has been named locally as Johnny White, was last night at Leeds General Infirmary with serious head and leg injuries, after the collision with the white Vauxhall Astra at 11.14pm on Saturday.

It is understood he was crossing the road from the British Queen Pub to a taxi across the road when the incident happened.

He narrowly avoided being hit by one car, but was believed to have been in collision with the other car as he crossed back over the road when he realised the taxi was not for him.

Police are studying CCTV footage to establish exactly what happened.

Trish Cawthra, landlady of the British Queen, said: “They dropped the speed limit from 40 to 30mph ages ago, but it’s still a really dangerous road, there’s so many accidents on this road it’s unbelievable.”

She said Mr White goes to her pub “now and again”, but when she saw him after the crash she did not recognise him at first due to swelling on his face.

“He’s a nice lad,” she said. “A lot of people know him and are hoping he’s all right.

“It happened outside here, my phone’s been like a hotline with people asking how he is.”

Dennis Cray, the landlord of the Drop Kick Pub, said that he called the ambulance after his staff saw the incident outside on Saturday.

Mr Cray’s friend, the former Bradford Bulls coach Eddie McGuinness, was killed outside the pub in March 2009.

“Someone asked me to ring an ambulance,” he said.

“I know the man came across the road from the British Queen Pub to talk to the taxi driver and turned around and ran back but was in front of the car.

“He must have rang for a taxi and there was one parked on our side of the road and I understand it was then that he tried to run back.

“I think he was due to get married in August and has a little baby. Apparently he is in a bad way.”

Asked whether the road was a black spot, he said: “The speed limit has been reduced, but I can’t see what else can be done, it is a main road.”

Mr McGuinness, 43, was killed after being thrown into the air in a collision as he tried to cross Huddersfield Road, outside the Drop Kick Pub.

During his inquest coroner Roger Whittaker said that he believed the speed limit on the road should be reduced to take into account the number of junctions and traffic lights.

That speed limit was cut last year.

Anyone with any information about this accident should call PC 2610 DaCosta at the Western Area Roads Policing Unit on 101.