Villagers calling for urgent action to slow down drivers on the busy A1079 at Barmby Moor have formed a new group to plan their campaign.

The Barmby Moor Road Safety Committee has been set up in the wake of the deaths of schoolboy William Johnson, aged four, and his grandmother, Peggy Johnson, 67, who were killed as they crossed a busy stretch of the A1079. The group's first move has been meet with Mark Schofield, from the Highways Agency, and to hand over a dossier of plans, photographs and press cuttings about the notorious stretch of road.

The Highways Agency is carrying out a study of the stretch of road and considering the possibility of new traffic-calming measures, which should be ready by early summer. Councillor Dennis Goforth, from the new committee, said they had drawn up a set of short-term and long-term demands.

In the short term they were asking the Highways Agency for more street lighting on the A1079 and Sutton Lane, for more signs, and for a 40mph speed limit.

He said they wanted traffic calming-measures on a par with nearby Kexby and Hayton, also straddling the busy York to Hull road. In the long-term, he would like to see a roundabout considered for the junction.

More than 1,000 villagers signed a petition calling for action after January's tragic accident and a public meeting attracted 100 people. Coun Goforth said: "It was like a dark cloud descending on the village, not only in Barmby Moor but in the villages around and about. "The little boy had only been at the school for three days."

The other members of the committee are chairman Neil Dexter, Karen Harrison, the Rev Valerie Hewetson, Nick Spencer and Mike Turner.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.