Calls have been made for safety improvements to be made to a busy road following a crash which left a man with serious head injuries.

Paul Collins, who has been an Eastwood resident since 1993 and was a Southend councillor until 2014, has launched an online petition to make alterations to Progress Road, Eastwood, and its major road junctions.

The move follows a serious crash - involving a van, refuse collection vehicle and two cars - which took place at the Progress Road and Rayleigh Road junction earlier this month. The air ambulance was called to the scene and a man in his 20s needed hospital treatment for serious head injuries.

Paul, 59, believes Southend Council’s £25,000 efforts to improve the junction following the opening of Lidl on the corner of Progress Road, in 2015, failed.

Paul, of Green Lane, Eastwood, said: “I decided to start the petition because of the serious accidents and minor bumps we are experiencing outside Lidl on the corner of Progress Road.

“I would suggest incorporating Lidl’s entrance into the road junction traffic light sequence or, better still, widening the junction.

“I expect to have more than 100 people sign the online petition and I am working with local businesses to create a hard copy of the petition to make it more accessible.”

Despite Paul calling for better safety measures to be put in place, Eastwood Park ward councillor Andrew Moring does not back the petition.

He said: “In order to decide whether something needs to be done, you need to look at the accident statistics for that position.

“You need to ask ‘what is different between that road and any other road in the town?’ and the answer is there is no difference.

“It’s like any other road and, unfortunately, accidents happen for various reasons.”

“I don’t know what the cause of this particular accident was, but I don’t think anything can be done differently to the road.

“We do have accidents along Rayleigh Road and we have had a lot over the last 10 years.

“I would urge people to stick to the speed limit. We are only human and accidents are caused

To sign the petition, visit http://democracy.southend.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=25&RPID=2361203&HPID=2361203