New safety measures planned for St Helens Road

The bus lane opposite Asda will be reduced in length. This will allow motorists to move over to the left lane to bypass right turning traffic into Asda supermarket.

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

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 currently being drawn up for approval by councillors and 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 the vehicle 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.

The council will use this data to risk rate each crossing to determine if improvements can be made in areas such as lighting or crossing upgrades.

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.”