MORE than 5,400 people have signed a petition pushing for lower speed limits on the Ulverston to Barrow-in-Furness coast road following a triple-fatal crash.

Barrow youngsters Grant Huntingdon, 16, Matthew Salt, 20, and Joey Pollock, 20, died on the A5087 in December last year, triggering a campaign to improve safety on the road.

David West, 20, was convicted of causing their deaths by dangerous driving but campaigners believe the road itself is also a danger and have rallied signatories for their petition on the streets of Barrow and Ulverston.

With its long straight sections and sharp bends the ten-mile coastal stretch has earned itself a reputation as an accident blackspot. Over the last three years there have been 21 accidents causing injury including two fatal collisions at Roosebeck although there is not official agreement over whether these crash statistics make it a problem road.

"The open 60mph speed limit should be knocked down to 40mph, there should be an increased police presence and we need speed cameras," argued Pat Humes, who is spear-heading the campaign after her neighbour's son died in December's collision.

"There will always be idiots but in 12 months, with cameras and a lower limit, they would see accidents drop. Cameras cost money but if we can save one life and another family the pain of what's happened to these lads' families it'll be worth it the impact is absolutely horrendous, it's torn them apart."

On Friday, the weighty petition was handed to Barrow and Furness MP John Hutton, who said the latest tragedy had raised awareness of how dangerous the road could be.

"I will be supporting the efforts of campaigners to identify and introduce measures that would improve safety on this stretch of road," he said.

Mr Hutton is pressing highways authority Cumbria County Council to schedule safety work in its Local Transport Plan, including cameras and lower speed limits.

Meanwhile, CCC is carrying out a road accident study. Nick Raymond, CCC's area engineer for South Lakeland, said the work was due for release to the council for consultation in mid-November with the final report out before Christmas.

However, he warned that this was a preliminary assessment of the road's accident history to see if more research was needed. Any recommended works would then have to compete for funding with other schemes on CCC's worklist.

Existing Cumbria Police research from October 2004 failed to show up incidences of serious speeding and found the average speed near Roosebeck was around 45mph.