A COUNTY councillor today backed a new road safety scheme to prevent accidents at a railway bridge but blamed careless lorry drivers for causing delays and disruption.

County councillor Chris Holtom welcomed the £12,000 project by Railtrack, which will involve painting thick red markers on a stretch of Whalley New Road, Langho, in a bid to slow vehicles down.

There have been eight major accidents in the last year, the latest on July 17 involving an 18-tonne lorry.

Company bosses said they hoped the scheme would start in the very near future and would add to other improvement works already started to improve visibility of the bridge by painting black and yellow chevrons along the front.

Lancashire County Council are also expected to prune overgrown trees which cover height-restriction signs. They have refuted claims that the bridge is lower than stated due to constant resurfacing.

County road engineers have also warned that a dip in the road under the bridge is causing all the problems because long-axled lorries simply pass over it instead of travelling into it.

Earlier this year, councillor Holtom called for haulage firms to start installing a new tracking device which warns lorries if they are approaching a low bridge. Today he said: "This bridge has been the point of impact for high lorries and the cause of concern for several decades. Drivers have ignored warning signs that exist further back up the road and struck the bridge on attempting to get under it.

"Some drivers approach the bridge and are not sure whether they can get under it but squeeze through anyway and the gamble doesn't pay off.

"The fault doesn't lie with the highway operators but with the lorry drivers who end up causing hours of delays and disruption." A county spokesman said: "We have met with Railtrack to discuss ways of reducing the risk of accidents and have agreed a programme of improvements which will be funded by Railtrack. The work taking place in Langho is part of this programme."

A spokesman for Railtrak said: "We have started work this week on the bridge to improve visibility because of the bashes we have had in the past. We are also funding the road being painted with thick red bumps at a cost of £12,000 which will hopefully slow vehicles down.