Family’s new floral tributes to Darwen man killed at ‘dangerous’ junction

Relatives of a man who died as he crossed the road have left new floral tributes at the scene of the crash. Peter Giannasi was killed instantly when he was hit by a lorry in Bolton Road, Darwen[1], on December 9 last year. The 70-year-old was crossing the road at the lights next to Bridge Street when tragedy struck.

This week a pre-inquest review was held at Preston[2] Coroners' Court[3] which heard that highways bosses at Blackburn[4] with Darwen Borough Council had been receiving complaints[5] about the pedestrian crossing "for years". Peter's family branded the crossing "dangerous" and asked if all parties were aware of the "amount of complaints" the council has received about the crossing. Peter's family say that the problem with the crossing is that there is no traffic lights 'repeater' to inform traffic heading along the A666 towards Bolton that the green man was active.

As traffic heads through the lights outside Market Street Pharmacy there is no repeat set of lights at the pedestrian crossing.

Peter's family, who live in Darwen and Liverpool, also made it clear that they hold no ill-feeling towards the lorry driver and said that he has "been through enough". The coroner was told that police had concluded that the driver would not have been able to see Peter as he crossed the road due to the layout of the junction and the positioning of his vehicle. The court heard that the driver "has been very deeply affected by what happened" and has "ongoing issues" relating to Peter's death.

Peter's family said they would not insist on him giving evidence in person at the final inquest. Witnesses due to give evidence at the inquest, on January 21, will include the council's network manager Heather Farmer, Peter's family and officers from Lancashire[6] Constabulary including a collision investigator and the traffic management team as well as private utility firm Yunex Traffic UK which has the council contract to operate and maintain signals and traffic lights in Blackburn with Darwen.

Join our LancsLive WhatsApp group

LancsLive now has its very own WhatsApp community to deliver the latest news straight to your phone. Breaking news, opinion and top stories are being sent directly to our community and we want you to be part of it.

Get the latest news as it breaks from across Lancashire[7]. Users who want to join must have WhatsApp downloaded to their phone. All you have to do to join is click on this link[8], select 'Join Community' and you're in.

No one will be able to see your personal information in the community and you will only receive messages from the LancsLive news team. We will not spam your WhatsApp feed with constant messages, but you will receive updates from us daily with the latest stories from across the county. If for some reason you decide you no longer want to be in our community, you can leave at any time by clicking on the name at the top of your screen and clicking 'Exit Group', simple as that.

Join our new Whatsapp community! Click this link[9] to receive daily LancsLive breaking news and top stories. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like.

If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.[10]

Subscribe to our daily newsletter LANCS LIVE NEWS and get all the biggest stories from across Lancashire direct to your inbox[11]

References

1. ^ Darwen (www.lancs.live)
2. ^ Preston (www.lancs.live)
3. ^ Court (www.lancs.live)
4. ^ Blackburn (www.lancs.live)
5. ^ had been receiving complaints (www.lancs.live)
6. ^ Lancashire (www.lancs.live)
7. ^ Lancashire (www.lancs.live)
8. ^ click on this link (chat.whatsapp.com)
9. ^ Click this link (chat.whatsapp.com)
10. ^ Privacy Notice (www.reachplc.com)
11. ^ Subscribe to our daily newsletter LANCS LIVE NEWS and get all the biggest stories from across Lancashire direct to your inbox (www.lancs.live)