A SERIOUS accident on the A590 has fired up campaigners battling for a roundabout at Greenodd.

South Lakeland district councillor Noel Spendlove and Cumbria County councillor Ron Mein said they would again be pressing the Highways Agency to upgrade the trunk route's junction with the A5092 outside the Furness village.

It is a campaign that has been rumbling on for at least ten years.

A 79-year-old Ulverston woman was left with serious head injuries after a two-car smash at the Greenodd junction on Sunday at 4.20pm.

The pensioner was a back-seat passenger in a Ford Fiesta driven by an 83-year-old Ulverston man. The driver was treated for shock alongside his 71-year-old front seat passenger.

His Fiesta had collided with a Vauxhall Corsa with a 21-year-old Wigan woman at the wheel. She was also treated for shock along with her 21-year-old passenger, while a 25-year-old woman also in the car suffered minor injuries.

Coun Spendlove said the existing junction was "inherently dangerous".

"Accidents always happen at this time of year because the tourists don't understand the problem. When people are turning right out of Greenodd towards Ulverston, that means crossing the carriageway. Because of the short slip road, if there's a vehicle coming along from Barrow turning left, you can't see if there's a vehicle behind it and they can be travelling at 60mph-plus.

"The Highways Agency should be taking the bull by the horns and putting a roundabout in there but they merely look at accident statistics and wait until the people have been killed before they do anything, which must be wrong."

His sentiments were shared by Coun Ron Mein, who has been battling for improvements along the A590 for years.

"The Greenodd junction has been a traumatic and dangerous place since the A590 was constructed," he said. "That junction needs a roundabout, as does the Haverthwaite one, because the A590 is carrying a volume of traffic that was never envisaged 20 years ago.

"When we got a roundabout at Newby Bridge, that solved the accident problem.

"I've paced it out and there is more room at Greenodd without encroaching on the sands than there was at Newby Bridge."

But the Highways Agency this week said that a roundabout was not on the cards for "the foreseeable future".

Spokesman Clive Naish said: "The possibility of providing a roundabout has been investigated but not found to be practical on safety or environmental grounds. The junction is adjacent to Greenodd Sands, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and would be encroached upon.

"It would not necessarily reduce accidents and, by delaying traffic, the junction could also be a cause of further accidents. Advance signing and improved lighting have been introduced along with a high friction surface to improve safety.

"The lining in the centre of the junction was improved to help traffic turning on to the A590 but following a trial was removed because motorists found it confusing."

Despite the agency's reluctance, both Coun Spendlove and Coun Mein said they would write again to lobby for a roundabout. Coun Mein added that he would be "very disappointed" if it did not appear in the ten-year route management plan for the A590, which the agency was currently drawing up.