REGARDING the fatal child accident on the Edenfield bypass (LET, November 8), one cannot but admire the fortitude and understanding shown by the parents and family of 12-year-old Simon Laughland. They and the driver will carry the scars of this event for the rest of their lives.

I apologise most sincerely for this extension to their public anguish, but there is some blame and it lies with us all.

It takes about six seconds to cross a 10-metre road. In that time, a car travelling at 60mph will cover one tenth of a mile - that is 150 metres or one and a half lengths of a football pitch - and the braking distance at that speed is 75 metres in the dry conditions. Pedestrians and high-speed traffic do not mix. That one life has been lost is tragic and something must be done to prevent this happening again. Roads like this are virtually motorways and are treated as such by all motorists.

Some are safer due to their remoteness from populated areas - such as Accrington bypass and to some degree the Dunkenhalgh Way.

But when these roads are so close to populated areas and pedestrians are invited to cross, it is cheap, cost-cutting engineering. So fence off this road now. And, if necessary, build other bridges over it because the cheap engineering does not compensate for the loss of one life.

L WILLAN, Chatburn Close, Great Harwood.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.