A GROUP of Nantwich residents fear there may be more fatalities in their street if action is not taken to make it safer.
People living in Hospital Street were appalled when two pensioners were killed when a heavy lorry ploughed into them as they walked to the shops a year ago.
Last week the lorry driver, 36-year-old Richard Steel of Cocker-mouth, was cleared of causing the deaths of 78-year-old Derrick Jones and his 67-year-old wife Evelyn when he told Chester Crown Court he suffered a coughing fit at the wheel of his lorry.
The Hospital Street Association was formed soon after Mr and Mrs Jones' deaths in November last year. And since then the association has been campaigning to make the road safer.
In June more than 1,000 people signed a petition, calling for the widening of pavements, the exclusion of through traffic and the introduction of a weight restriction and a 20mph speed limit.
Association spokesman Anthony Blacklay said: 'Hospital Street is a narrow, historic residential street which lies entirely within the Nantwich conservation area.
'The area is lined with many listed buildings and should not have to suffer from through traffic.
'Cheshire County Council under-took a traffic survey in July which showed that more than 3,500 heavy goods vehicles were using the two-way section of the road each week.
'The Hospital Street Association carried out its own survey over the same period and recorded more than 80 HGVs per hour using the street at peak times.
'The tragic death of Mr and Mrs Jones was an accident waiting to happen and although shocking, really came as no surprise to the residents of the street.
'Hospital Street is one of the principal pedestrian routes into the town centre, and the risk of another similar accident occurring will remain a serious possibility while large numbers of heavy vehicles continue to use the street.'
The association met with members of Nantwich Town Council last week to set up an action group to formulate a traffic management plan for the whole town.
Cllr Penny Butterill, who lived in Hospital Street for many years said: 'We want as many sections of the town as possible to be involved, so that we can look at the whole picture.
