A mother has started a petition to make a Dunmow road safer after a four-year-old boy was hit by a car.

Kayleigh Duncan was sparked into action after the boy was involved in a crash with a car at St Edmunds Lane, Great Dunmow, at about 4.40pm on Monday, July 27.

The boy was taken to Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford, and has been transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge, where he remained on Tuesday (August 4).

Ms Duncan, who has lived in St Edmunds Lane for 18 years, says the road has always been dangerous.

The mother-of-one told the Broadcast: “It’s been bad for as long as I can remember. A number of lorries now use it as a cut through, it is terrible.

“It seems to be popular with racers too.”

Now, after the crash which saw her friend’s son taken to hospital, Ms Duncan has started the petition to get speed reduction measures introduced along the road.

“The number of lorries on the road has got worse due to recent developments,” the 23-year-old added. “There have been lots of accidents along here with vehicles being written off.

Describing the accident, she said: “I heard a massive bang and saw a load of smoke. I heard crying and automatically I knew what had happened and my stomach dropped.”

Ms Duncan will be taking the petition around St Edmunds Lane. It is also online.

Officers appealed for any information after the crash, which left the boy with a facial injury.

The crash, one of 61 reported to the East of England Ambulance Service on the Monday, more than the same day last year, prompted an appeal for motorists to drive safer.

INFORMATION: Sign the petition at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/traffic-calming-measures-on-st-edmunds-lane.

Do you think the road needs to be made safer. Send your views to editor@dunmow-broadcast.co.uk.