Aarron’s friend raises 2,000-name petition for better road safety (From Bournemouth Echo)

Aarron’s friend raises 2,000-name petition for better road safety

1:00pm Thursday 23rd October 2008 in

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A YOUNG friend of tragic Aarron Keeping, who died when in collision with a car in Bransgore, has collected 2,000 signatures of people calling for improvements to the Crown Inn crossroads.

Sonney O’Donoghue acted spontaneously and tapped out the petition cover note on his grandmother’s computer before taking it home to his parents, Anne and Roger O’Donoghue.

He then took it to the village Co-op store and asked if he could leave it there.

Within hours the first pages had been filled.

“Then they asked for it in the newsagents, then the chip shop and then the Crown,” said Sonney.

Copies also went to the village pubs and the Esso filling station at Hinton.

In almost three weeks Sonney had collected more than 2,000 signatures.

On the cover sheet he had written: “If you can’t put traffic lights up, there are going to be many more accidents and it could be one of your family or friends next time.”

He said he was “quite shocked” by the news of Aarron’s death. “I didn’t think it could be true,” he said.

He handed the petition in to the parish council at its Tuesday meeting.

A clutch of concerned residents eager to improve the crossroads, including 12-year-old Aarron’s grieving parents Freda and Martin, attended.

Cllr Richard Frampton praised Sonney for his initiative and urged residents to write to district and county councillors and highways officers calling for improvements.

“We all know how dangerous that crossroads is. We all know how bad it was for cars turning right. But we didn’t know how bad it was for pedestrians.”

Chairman Cllr Ann Hickman said the village had been pushing for improvements to the junction since the 1970s. “We pay these people’s wages , but they aren’t listening.”

Robert Higgins said the whole village needed safety improvements. He was concerned not just about the Crown crossroads but out-side the school gate and speeding cars in Burnt House Lane.

The village residents association will organise a meeting for the whole village.

Both Hampshire County Council and its highway agent, New Forest District Council, said they could not comment until the outcome of investigations into the accident.

“The Casualty Reduction Partnership will be considering the police findings as part of the ongoing assessment of all locations where serious accidents have occurred,” said county councillor Mel Kendal.