Speed limit calls after pupil hurt in accident

7:27pm Saturday 14th June 2008

The headmaster of a Pembrokeshire secondary school says the governing body had previously failed to get the 40mph speed limit reduced on a stretch of road where a pupil was injured on his way home last week.

Connor Murray was walking home from Pembroke School on Wednesday afternoon when the accident happened near the fire station.

Another pupil who witnessed the accident telephoned his father, a firefighter who was off-duty at the time, for help.

The fireman alerted his colleagues at Pembroke Dock fire station.

"We thought the boy might need oxygen therapy, which we carry on the fire engines, so we immediately responded to the call,'' said watch manager, Gerwyn Howells.

"Fortunately an ambulance was already in attendance but we remained on the scene to assist the ambulance personnel.'' Connor's home is near the fire station and his parents and brother rushed to the scene to comfort him before he was taken to Withybush Hospital.

Pembroke School's headmaster, Frank Ciccotti, wished Connor a quick return to full health.

"I have heard that Connor is already keen to come back to school,'' he said.

Mr Ciccotti said that since the accident staff had re-emphasised to pupils the need for safe behaviour on the roads.

"Although the accident occurred at some distance from the school gates, it highlights the problem with having a 40mph speed limit in the vicinity of a school,'' he added.

The school governors had asked to have the limit reduced in April 2007, and there had been discussion about introducing a variable speed limit, but without result, he explained.

"Both likelihood and force of impact would have been significantly less if the speed limit was 30mph, or even 20mph, as is the case in the vicinity of many schools,'' said Mr Ciccotti.