RESIDENTS and councillors have made a desperate plea for traffic calming measures to be put on a road they have labelled a "rat run".

The Enfield Residents Association and Altham councillors said Atlas Street was used by thoughtless drivers trying to dodge traffic on parallel Whalley Road.

But they said all they did was endanger lives and cause gridlock in Whalley Road as they attempted to re-enter the traffic flow.

Coun David Myles said: "Why should we have to pick a child off the road before something is done?"

They are considering a number of schemes to put forward to Hyndburn Council, including a one-way system, a 20 mph limit and speed bumps for Atlas Street, Clayton-le-Moors.

Coun Miles Parkinson said the situation had been a problem for a number of years but with the steady growth in traffic it was worsening.

He said Lancashire County Council had money set aside for Atlas Street a few years ago but it was spent on other schemes in the county.

This left Atlas Street with a priority status, something it had retained, but with no money as yet on the horizon.

Hyndburn Council said the figures for the road did not warrant any action being taken, but they could get something done using money from the area council.

Michelle Boothman, secretary of the residents' association, said: "People are using it as a rat run, there are schools, homes and even a nursery on the road and they race up and down it as if it was a speed track.

"We want a 20mph limit and a one-way system put in."

Coun Parkinson said: "Something needs to be done, the residents are not happy.

"It is only a matter of time before someone is killed. It has been going on for quite a while now and we want something to be done.

"We are holding a meeting at the end of May to discuss the matter and look at the options to be put forward to the borough council." Coun Myles said: "I believe some of the traffic problems on Whalley Road are could be alleviated by getting rid of the rat run.

"All they are doing is creating a bottleneck and making the queue longer instead of a nice steady stream.

"They also need to realise Atlas Street is a residential area and there is a primary school and they are doing 30-plus.

"It is dangerous for the children living down there."

Dave Law, traffic and transport manager for Hyndburn Council, said: "The latest figures we have show two slight injuries at the junctions with Read Street and Church Lane. This is for the five years before December 2000.

"On the basis of this, both the borough council and the county council couldn't really do something on Atlas Street.

"But that does not mean that they can't go through area council and get some money from their budget to do this."