A WIDOWER has won a four-year fight for safety measures at the crossing where his wife was knocked down and killed.

Retired teacher Roland Ayliffe officially switched on the traffic light-controlled pedestrian crossing near the Over Square roundabout in Winsford.

Mr Ayliffe, 76, has argued the case for traffic safety measures since his wife Joan was killed as she crossed the road at the top of Swanlow Lane four years ago.

He launched a Chronicle-backed campaign supported by more than 3,000 residents who signed a petition calling for safety measures and presented to Eddisbury MP Stephen O'Brien.

But it was only this year that Cheshire County Council finally freed up the cash to install the pedestrian crossing lights.

Mr Ayliffe believes more can still be done to improve safety at the roundabout, but is delighted with the progress made so far.

He said: 'I'm very happy that these lights have been set up, it's a good start. I am pleased to acknowledge it is thanks to the help of the Press that we have got these lights.

'We are lucky the lights are here because Government policy is that there should be four deaths before safety measures are introduced.

'I was told that when my wife died, and I have since heard about old people who have not been able to cross the road for years.'

Mrs Ayliffe was well known in Mid Cheshire as a lay reader at St John's Church and for her teaching posts at Handley Hill, Woodford Lodge and St John's schools.

The couple lived in the West Indies for 12 years before moving to Winsford and had seven children and 15 grandchildren.

She was crossing the busy road at about 9am on Friday, May 5, 2000 when the accident happened.

Mr Ayliffe launched a petition calling for road safety measures on the roundabout in the Chronicle the week after - and by the end of the month more than 2,000 people had signed it.

Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg backed the campaign at the inquest into his wife's death..

In a cruel twist of fate, Mrs Ayliffe and her husband had been campaigning to make the roundabout near their Swanlow Lane home safe since they moved in 36 years before her death.

'Joan believed pedestrians had rights - she was wrong,' said Mr Ayliffe.

'It occurred to me that, had I crossed the road with her on that day, I would not be here now.

'I never said goodbye to Joan on that day. I remember I was working in my garden when a policeman came to the house and said there had been an accident and I fell to the ground.

'These lights have cost £20,000, but that is a small price to pay for Joan's life.

'Someone told me last week that if a child was having trouble at school Joan would sit beside them and put an arm around them to comfort them. She worked hard all her life and was an excellent mother, grandmother, teacher and preacher.'