The death of Alisha Goup is a tragedy. Aged just 16, Alisha was killed as she walked along Rochdale Road on her way to college in February this year.

Her killers have been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Unfortunately, the dangerous and avoidable conditions leading up to Alisha’s death are all too common, and the heartbreak caused by her death is likely to be felt by more Oldham families.

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Oldham is plagued with the deadly combination of dangerous roads and dangerous driving.

The borough has been rated as one of the most dangerous areas in the country for pedestrians and has the lowest cycling rate in England.

I commend Greater Manchester active travel commissioner Dame Sarah Storey for her ‘vision zero’ strategy, to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries.

It is a strategy adopted by other cities worldwide, many of which have seen road deaths fall in many major cities and countries, despite increasing traffic volumes.

However, Oldham must not be left behind.

Oldham Council was keen to point out in a press release published in July that injuries had fallen on its roads from 336 to 214 in a 12-month period.

However, in doing so, their commitment to ‘vision zero’ was made unclear, with Cllr Chris Goodwin adding: “Unfortunately, there will always be collisions and accidents, and sadly there is no getting away from that.”

For the sake of our children, the council must not rest on its laurels.

No matter how safe you try to be, whether you are a 16-year-old walking to college on the pavement in Royton, like Alisha, a child riding a bike down Oldham Road, or walking near your school, if you are crossing the road using your mobility scooter in Shaw, or if you are using your walking frame to cross the road near Royal Oldham Hospital, you are not safe from the danger posed by drivers and their vehicles.

We report on plenty of crashes at The Oldham Times. I began to compile a list of our crash reports starting in April, and I am already at nearly two full A4 pages.

Were this another form of danger, such as knife crime, there would be an outcry. Politicians would be calling for change at all levels. Instead, this scale of injury, and tragically, death, is often accepted as ‘unfortunate’ and inevitable.

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Roads must be redesigned and made safer, and narrower if needed. Some of Oldham’s massive roads should be put on a ‘road diet’, to ensure they work for everyone using them, not just those in cars.

It should not be possible to reach 66mph in a 30mph zone, as Omar Choudhury did.

Similarly, mandatory speed limiters should be retrofitted into all cars. It is an absurdity that legally sold e-bikes are limited to 15.5mph, while cars, which pose a much greater danger, can be sold that can travel as fast as the manufacturers can make them.

Safe pedestrian and active travel infrastructure must not be an afterthought.

A proactive strategy is needed to address these issues. If we wait too long to act, we risk cutting more lives short.

I am often contacted about dangerous driving and parking in the borough.

Just recently, parents in Lees told me of the ‘out of control’ driving near two local schools. Pavement parking, which can force vulnerable pedestrians to walk in the road, is also a common complaint.

We must get tougher on dangerous driving. Where dangerous driving occurs, it often goes lightly punished, if at all. Lifetime driving bans are rare.

Just last month, a 20-year-old man from Oldham who led police on two separate chases, reaching speeds of more than 100mph, was told he could be back on the roads in just two years. Similarly, a Chadderton man who reached speeds of 70mph in a police chase was banned for just two years.

They will both be back driving, sharing the roads with our children and grandparents, by 2025.

I can only hope that, by then, our leaders, at all levels, have acted.