Campaigners call for immediate action on road safety in Birmingham
A protest is being held today following the latest hit-and-run in the city
A protest is being held in Birmingham today as campaigners demand action to stop more people being killed or injured on the city's roads.
It comes after a number of incidents in the last month. Four people have been killed, including two children.
The latest collision on Thursday (15 June) left a woman and child in hospital with serious injuries after being hit by a car in Kings Heath.
They were on a pedestrian crossing on High Street when they were knocked down at around 8.50am. A BMW suspected of being involved was later found abandoned and a man arrested.
Better Streets for Birmingham have organised today's rally, not far from where the collision happened.
The group are demanding immediate action to protect vulnerable road users.
Mat McDonald, chair of Better Streets for Birmingham said: "More lives will be lost if we do nothing.
"That's why we're standing together calling for concrete changes both in the immediate term and longer term to prevent these sorts of needless deaths and serious injuries that we're seeing.
"It's completely unacceptable that people should feel afraid to walk, wheel or scoot in their own communities. Or that they should worry about sending their children out to play where they live.
"We want to see a highly visible police response, with increased traffic patrols, to reassure communities that something is being done."
In a letter to the group, Birmingham City Council leader John Cotton said: "The Council is horrified and saddened by the recent tragic incidents on the city’s roads involving cyclists and pedestrians. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims.
"We agree that we cannot wait for new infrastructure if we are to make the vision set out in the Birmingham Transport Plan a reality.
An infrastructure-led approach to delivering behavioural and cultural change would be excessively expensive, slower to achieve, and ultimately doomed to failure. We need to move far more quickly if we are to meet the range of challenges currently facing the city."
The council added it's already looking at a number of new safety measures - including reducing all 40mph routes to 30mph and trialling an extension on the "green times" on pedestrian crossings.
People are expected to gather as part of today's outside the New Life Baptist Church on Kings Heath High Street at 11am.