Mother’s plea for safer crossings after six-year-old knocked down in Sedgefield

James Stanley was knocked down when he accidentally stepped out onto North End in the centre of town while attempting to cross with his siblings and a grandparent in the early evening of Saturday. 

The youngster’s mother is now urging Durham County Council to review pedestrian safety and traffic calming measures in the town amid wide-spread concern that it is just a matter of time before someone is killed crossing Sedgefield’s roads.

“We are extremely fortunate that on this occasion the motorist was driving safely and slowly and was able to brake, meaning the impact left James with nothing more than some grazes. James, my mum and the driver were all very shaken by the incident though,” said Kate Stanley, from Church View.

“James stepped out after mishearing instruction and believing it to be safe to cross. He’s just six years old and is of course blissfully unaware of danger, but for as long as I’ve lived in Sedgefield, I’ve been very aware of how dangerous the roads in the centre are to cross, with no safe provisions.

“It is surprising that there has yet to be a very serious accident and I am urging the council to use my son’s incident as a warning and have the foresight to make changes before someone is killed crossing a road.”

The mother-of-four is calling on Durham County Council to urgently reassess pedestrian safety and the provision of road crossings throughout the town centre, particularly where West End meets North End.

Within 12 hours of its launch, the e-petition has gathered more than 350 signatures and numbers continue to rise.

Brian Buckley, strategic highways manager at Durham County Council, said: “We were very sorry to hear about this incident and are pleased James was not seriously hurt. We take road safety extremely seriously and carefully consider all requests for traffic calming measures and pedestrian crossing facilities. When considering these requests, we take into account accident trends in recent years and prioritise accordingly subject to available funding.”

The Sedgefield resident has also contacted Sedgefield Town Councillors as well as Sedgefield’s new MP.

She said: “For a town of its size, which is growing at high speed, there is a grossly inadequate number of pedestrian crossings or measures in place to allow people to get over roads in the centre safely. There is just one zebra crossing on the High Street, and even there, motorists are known not to stop.

“Sedgefield Primary School sits in the heart of the town and yet school children and parents have to dash over busy roads daily and traffic-dodge with alarming regularity. It is the same at the other end of the village on Stockton Road with children crossing to go up to Hardwick Primary School and the community college.”

Sedgefield MP Paul Howell said he would like to speak to the Sedgefield resident to discuss residents' concerns and said he will contact Durham County Council about the issue.

He added: "When an accident like this happens we've got to take a look at the roads as there's clearly some concerns locally. It should be reviewed and improvements made. I am happy to support this petition."

The petition and news of the incident on the town’s Facebook page has garnered the support of hundreds of residents, with many commenting on the lack of pedestrian crossings, dangerous junctions, inadequate parking provisions and speeding motorists.

One resident wrote on Facebook: “I would suggest to the council that rather than waste a huge amount of money widening the footpath and putting in more flower boxes in the corner of Stockton Road they use this budget to create safer crossings at both ends of Sedgefield.”

To support the petition click here