TRAFFIC calming measures could be introduced on a busy road after several accidents were caused by speeding.

Bosses at Lancashire County Council want to put speed bumps along Coal Clough Lane, between Cog Lane and Nairne Street, to try and cut down on crashes.

The scheme would be funded from the allocation for highways and traffic management contained in the Transport Capital Programme for 2007/08.

The estimated cost of the scheme is £23,000.

A public consultation exercise was undertaken and of the 260 consultation leaflets delivered 135 were returned.

The responses showed 84 per cent in favour and 15 per cent opposed.

Objections from residents included that humps cause damage to vehicles, discomfort and noise pollution, are ineffective and cause delays to emergency vehicles.

However, the county council said the humps were designed not to cause such problems.

They also said that between 1999 and 2004 there were 18 injury accidents on Coal Clough Lane of which three involved serious injuries. Excessive speed was found to be a cause in many of these collisions and the proposals are intended to address this problem.

A spokesman for the county council said: "It has been proven elsewhere that schemes of this type are successful in preventing injury accidents and there is a net benefit to society in providing such measures.

"All local safety schemes are analysed on the basis of cost against accident reducing potential and only the best value for money schemes gain a place in the annual programme."

The scheme will be discussed at a meeting of the Lancashire Local -Burnley committee at the town hall tonight.