HIGHWAY chiefs are facing renewed calls to improve safety at a notorious accident blackspot near a Hampshire school.

A series of collisions in Hamble Lane over the festive period has heightened fears that children walking to school may be at risk.

Now the area’s MP has joined forces with residents on the road to renew their pleas for increased safety measures.

The call comes just over a year after 30-year-old motorcyclist Garry Corbin was killed on the road.

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne said there had been a “slew” of new accidents over the festive period and called for urgent action to reduce the 40mph speed limit.

Hamble Lane resident Gareth Williams, who alerted Mr Huhne, said: “It is incredibly dangerous. Over the holiday, speeding motorists have managed to destroy the central light on the Hamble Lane- Satchell Lane pedestrian island, including its keep left safety sign.

“The result is that children again have to go to school in the dark on this island, and there are increased risks of another serious accident due to the speed of vehicles as they go round the roundabout.”

Mr Corbin, from Helm Close, Gosport, died after his bike collided with a Transit van at the junction of Hamble Lane and Satchell Lane.

The van driver, 27-year-old Neil Foley, has denied charges of causing death by dangerous driving and a trial is due to take place in March.

After the death, on November 12, 2008, there were similar requests for the speed limit to be reduced from 40mph to 30mph in the area.

Hampshire County Council leader Ken Thornber, Leader of Hampshire County Council said that some safety improvement work had already taken place on the road and that the authority was in the process of extending the 30mph limit between Hamble Lane Primary School and Hound Road roundabout.

The speed limits in Hamble Lane are also due for review this year.

“We do understand residents’ concerns and take them very seriously,” he said.