SAFETY measures need to be introduced at a notorious accident hot-spot before someone is killed, according to a councillor.

Coun Brian Essex has requested that Lancashire County Council carry out a road safety survey on Holcombe Road.

The stretch of road between Helmshore, and Holcombe Village has been the scene of a series of accidents, including crashes in two consecutive days last month.

A Peugeot left the road, flipped over, and rolled down the hill at the Rossendale/ Bury border on March 9, and the following day another vehicle veered off the road and smashed through fencing at Buckden Woods.

Coun Essex said: "I raised the issue of speeding cars and the dangerous state of Holcombe Road at the last Lancashire Local Rossendale meeting, but nobody seems to have any urgency. The road seems to have been forgotten by Lancashire.

"There are no signs indicating bends, no chevrons on the worst twisty bends, no slow signs on the road surface, drainage is poor and the even the white lines are disappearing.

"There have been so many crashes on this road that at the county boundary, it resembles a war zone - walls demolished, gates smashed, gate-posts bent and the pavement strewn with debris. A number of residents raised the same concerns at my recent surgery, requesting a road survey.

"How many lives are going to be lost or people injured before Lancashire County Council and Bury Council highways get their act together?"

Police said that they found the Peugeot abandoned on March 9, and the second accident was not reported.

An county council spokesperson said: "Our first priority is to carry out essential drainage works followed by improvements to the road surface, and improved signing and lining.

"The plans have been devised following a safety report by the county council's highways officers."