ROAD safety measures in an East Lancashire village have made crossing the road a daily dice with death, say residents.

A second row of double yellow lines was introduced in Crawshawbooth last year, preventing cars parking on both sides of Burnley Road.

Instead, Rossendale Council created a small parking area - but promptly filled it with three large bottle banks.

Now residents say the no parking order means cars travelling from Burnley to Crawshawbooth travel much faster because the street is empty.

They claim when a few cars were parked, traffic was forced to slow down as it passed through the village.

A 700-name petition has been sent to Rossendale Council which will consider residents' pleas at Monday's meeting of the engineering and planning committee.

Petition organiser Mrs Tai Tai Chan who runs a Chinese takeaway in the village said: "The road is now more dangerous than it was with cars parked on it. "At peak times the road is just like a motorway because of the speed of the traffic."

Residents are also concerned about the zebra crossing in the middle of the village which they say is a death trap because speeding drivers now do not notice it as they round the bend and descend the hill towards Rawtenstall.

Mrs Chan, a mother of three, says she is concerned for the safety of her own and other people's children because as they leave her shop on to a narrow pavement the speeding traffic is almost on top of them.

"The problem is that the bottle banks block the parking bay and once people are home from work the side streets are filled with residents' cars."

Councillors are being recommended by officers to authorise an investigation into traffic conditions in Crawshawbooth and report to the next meeting of the committee in August.

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