Bolton Council is set to reduce the length of a bus lane after a series of crashes on a Bolton road as part of a ‘series of measures’ being introduced around St Helens Road to improve road safety. 

In June, grandmother Karen Kimblin was killed in a crash near the Asda on St Helens Road, with another crash just over a week later leaving a cyclist in hospital.

Later in July, another crash left a car overturned on St Helens Road – leading to further calls for action.

Later that month, Bolton Council was granted ‘safer roads funding’ by the government in order to invest in improvements on the road.

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A meeting was held between local MPs, police, and representatives from the council to discuss concerns last week.

Town Hall chiefs say the bus lane opposite Asda will now be reduced in length to allow motorists to move over to the left lane to bypass right turning traffic into Asda supermarket.

In addition, the council has been awarded £1 million from the Safer Roads Fund, a government initiative to introduce road safety interventions.

(Image: NQ)

It says this will be invested into making St Helens Road and Derby Street safer for all road users.

Plans on how the funding will be spent are still being drawn up for approval by councillors, but Bolton Council says the plans will focus on camera enforcement and behavioural change.

Further camera and data gathering is planned to enhance pedestrian safety through the installation of cameras at the pedestrian crossings.

This will monitor signal light position and the position of vehicles in relation to the stop line, as well as the position of pedestrians.

These cameras will assess safety, record near misses and create a database of red light running and speeding on green which will be shared with Greater Manchester Police for enforcement.

There are 17 pedestrian crossings on the Safer Roads Fund route.

(Image: NQ)

Bolton Council says it will use this data to ‘risk rate’ each crossing to determine if improvements can be made in areas such as lighting or crossing upgrades.

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Cllr Hamid Khurram, Bolton Council’s Executive Cabinet Member for Highways, said: “Road safety is a key priority for the council, and we work closely with Greater Manchester Police to address the issue.

“It is positive news that these safety measures are coming in and I know St Helens Road has been an area of concern for many.

“Whilst these measures will hopefully improve safety for all road users it’s important to remember that most accidents are caused by driver behaviour.

“All motorists should be driving with due care and attention and within the law.”  

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.