A petition calling for an urgent review of a junction on Stanningley Road has passed the 650-name mark – as renewed calls for static speed cameras have been made.
The petition follows an incident at the junction of Stanningley Road and Cockshott Lane last Wednesday morning (22 February), which saw the death of 28-year-old Athira Anilkumar Laly Kumari.
Ms Kumari was one of two pedestrians who suffered serious injuries in the collision, which involved a black Volkswagen Golf and caused damage to a bus stop. She is the fifth person in Leeds to be killed in a road traffic collision so far this year.
The petition was set up by Councillor Lou Cunningham, (Green, Armley) and calls for an “urgent review of road safety measures Stanningley Road/Cockshott Lane.” and says “one life affected or lost is too many”.
Armley’s Labour councillors, Jim McKenna and Alice Smart are also renewing appeals for static speed cameras to be installed on the busy stretch of road having previously been told by the West Yorkshire Safety Camera Partnership that it did not meet the necessary criteria.
The issue of cameras on the A647 has been regularly raised by local residents attending Armley Forum meetings over a number of years.
Cllr McKenna said: “Any death or injury on our roads is one too many, and Cllr Smart and my thoughts are with the loved ones of those suffering from this horrific event.
“Whilst there is a police investigation ongoing to determine what has happened, we have written to highways officers and the executive member for infrastructure and climate to urgently discuss this junction and put residents views forward and reiterate the need for the safety of pedestrians.
“We have previously requested additional safety measures on this stretch of road. This included fixed speed cameras on the A647 but it did not meet the criteria they set out by the West Yorkshire after Camera Partnership. Under the new camera criteria published last Monday, we are returning to officers to re-review the A647 in line previous commitments and again requesting fixed camera be installed.”
A 25-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving following Wednesday’s crash and has since been released on bail as enquiries continue into the collision.
Police enquiries have established that the Golf had travelled on the Armley Gyratory before it was driven down Stanningley Road towards Bradford.
Anyone who has footage of the vehicle prior to the collision, or who can assist the investigation, can contact the Major Collision Enquiry Team on 101 or by using the 101LiveChat facility on the West Yorkshire Police website. The log reference is 290 of 22 February.