THE mother of a schoolgirl injured in a car accident in the Borders has reiterated her pleas to council chiefs for new measures to curb the speed of traffic outside their home.

Five-year-old Lucie Rae suffered a broken ankle after being knocked down by a car at Priors Meadow in Jedburgh this summer.

Her mum Arlene revealed she had previously warned Scottish Borders Council of the danger posed by speeding vehicles on the road.

However, she claimed she was told that installing speed bumps or other safety measures in the street would not be cost effective because the road isn’t busy enough.

Speaking to the Border Telegraph, the mother-of-two said: “I had contacted the council before my daughter was hit. It is a busy street, with many children around and the current speed limit of 30 miles an hour isn’t low enough.

“My neighbours have attempted to contact the council many times as well, for them just to say the street isn’t busy enough by their measurements to justify the cost of traffic calming measures. But the health and safety of any child should be above those considerations.” Arlene and other members of the community have now now launched a petition asking Scottish Borders Council to introduce speed bumps and other traffic calming measures.

The limit in Priors Meadow is currently 30 miles per hour – but there is a '20’s plenty’ provision, which is advisory. “We have asked the council to reduce the limit to less than 20mph, but they have said legally they can’t,” said Arlene. “It is lucky that the guy who hit Lucie wasn’t speeding. It wasn’t his fault. But something needs to be done.

“Cost is no reason to duck the issue. Especially when you consider that the council can spend money fixing roads that have not long since been fixed, or bridges that probably could wait another six months. They’ll fix them instead of putting something like this in place.

“And how much will it cost in NHS bills if other children are injured or worse?” Council chiefs revealed most motorists were sticking to the speed limit.

A spokesperson for Scottish Borders Council said: “The circumstances of the incident at Priors Meadow have been investigated, including discussions with Police Scotland, and a traffic survey undertaken. The traffic survey revealed that both the volume and speeds were actually very low.

“In terms of numbers the busiest day was a Friday with 470 vehicles over the 24 hour period. Even looking at the busiest one hour period, vehicles equated to less than one a minute. The average speed of vehicles on the road was 18mph with 85 per cent of vehicles were travelling at 23.5 mph or less.

“The Council’s resources in relation to accident prevention and road safety have to be targeted at those areas with the greatest need. Unfortunately there are a great many roads in the Scottish Borders where vehicle volumes are many times what is encountered on Priors Meadow and/or where average speeds are up to double those measured here. In the circumstances it would not be appropriate to undertake any further traffic calming at Priors Meadow, which is already subject to a '20s Plenty’ provision.”