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Call for better safety on road where siblings died

Lewis Adams
BBC News, Essex
Leigh Milner
BBC News, Essex
Reporting fromPitsea
John Fairhall/BBC Bunches of flowers piled on top of each other. Two at the forefront of the picture have signs that read "Roman forever 16" and "Darcie forever nine" respectively.John Fairhall/BBC
Floral tributes have been left at the scene in Ashlyns, where siblings Roman and Darcie Casselden died on Saturday

Safety improvements must be made to a road where two children were killed, a councillor has warned.

It followed the deaths of Roman Casselden, 16, and his nine-year-old sister, Darcie, in Pitsea, near Basildon, Essex, on Saturday.

Labour councillor Emma Callaghan said Ashlyns, the road where the siblings were struck by a car, had a series of safety issues, including poor lighting.

She told the BBC that reviews should take place to ensure "accidents like this won't happen again".

Police believed Roman and Darcie were riding a privately owned e-scooter when they died.

"[They were] just getting from A to B in an area where they live, an area they know very well," said Callaghan, a councillor for Pitsea North West.

"They would've made that journey a million times before and it just took one occasion for everything to change."

John Fairhall/BBC Emma Callaghan standing at the scene of the crash, which is a pedestrian road with flowers and balloons in the background. Emma has long brown hair and is wearing a tan coat with a serious expression on her face.John Fairhall/BBC
Emma Callaghan said her "blood ran cold" when she heard about the fatal collision

Callaghan started a petition calling on Essex County Council to improve road safety in Ashlyns.

She made a number of recommendations, including:

  • Installing additional street lighting and repairing faulty lights
  • Improving signage and road markings near the pedestrian crossing
  • Introducing traffic calming measures
  • Repairing footpaths

The councillor added: "When things like this happen, you've really got to look at an area and think 'are there enough safety measures in place to ensure accidents like this won't happen again?'."

An Essex County Council spokesperson, said: "Since 2005 there has been a 48.2% reduction in people being killed or seriously injured on Essex's roads.

"The Safer Essex Road Partnership's delivers road safety education, training, publicity and enforcement to reduce fatalities and serious injuries on Essex's roads.

"This includes visiting schools, running courses and delivering campaigns to raise awareness."

Essex Police A composite of Darcie and Roman Casselden. Darcie has long brown hair and has a blank expression on her face. Roman has short light brown hair and has a big smile on his face. He is wearing a blue jacket.Essex Police
The Pitsea community is "mourning" the losses of Darcie and Roman Casselden, a police officer says

Roman and Darcie's mother, Emma, said her children were her "beautiful angels" in a tribute shared on Tuesday.

She said Roman had a "heart of gold" and Darcie "was a soul filled with creativity and beauty".

Speaking previously, Ch Supt Leighton Hammett, of Essex Police, said "the whole community is mourning" their loss.

Officers arrested a man and woman, both in their 20s, on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of an accident in connection with the deaths of Roman and Darcie.

The force said the pair were later released, with a woman bailed and a man released under investigation.

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