The Chorley residents counting up the car crashes in their village - and why there are more than the official police record

A village in Chorley is seeing many more road accidents than official police figures suggest, a councillor has said.
Police have recorded six collisions on North Road in three yearsPolice have recorded six collisions on North Road in three years
Police have recorded six collisions on North Road in three years

No more than six collisions have been recorded in Bretherton in each of the last three years - but locals claim to have counted 11 in just the first few months of 2019.

Parish councillor Karen Wait said the discrepancy was hampering efforts to get speed limits reduced on some of the roads in the village.

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“We started doing our own counts, because the police had so few reports of accidents,” she told a meeting of Chorley Council’s liaison committee.

“We were being told there weren’t enough accidents to warrant the speed limits being changed.”

Chorley councillor Eric Ball claimed that police only record accidents if they result in an ambulance being called.

But in a statement issued after the meeting, Lancashire Constabulary denied that and said the force could only record a collision if they had been made aware of it in the first place.

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“There may be a higher number of collisions according to residents, but if they are damage-only it’ll be unlikely they would be reported to emergency services,” a spokesperson said.

Chorley Council leader, Alistair Bradley, said that villagers had collected a “good evidence basis” and that it was now just a matter of presenting it to Lancashire County Council, which has the authority to review speed limits.

Particular concern was raised about North Road, which leads through to Leyland - it appears six times on the list of police-recorded accidents in the last three years, out of a total of 16 incidents.

“The removal of a hedge close to a bend at one particular point seems to have affected things - people think it’s straight,” Cllr Wait said.

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Last month, a motorcyclist suffered head injuries on the 50mph road after crashing into a telegraph pole.

“It’s a long straight road, but with little bends which make it quite hazardous,” Chorley councillor Alan Whittaker said.

Another blackspot according to the police log includes the junction of Carr House Lane, where it meets the A59 Liverpool Road - four accidents were reported between 2016 and 2018.