Hundreds call for safer roads at Kings Heath rally after hit-and-run

Shivaji Shiva said dangerous driving in the city had become "an epidemic"

Hundreds of people have attended a rally calling for "safer streets" after a boy and woman were seriously injured on a pedestrian crossing.

They were hurt in a hit-and run near Asda, on High Street, Kings Heath, shortly before 09:00 BST last Thursday.

Children were among crowds shouting "enough is enough" at the rally, while others held up 20mph speed limit signs.

Organiser Better Streets for Birmingham said four people were killed on the city's roads in the past month.

The group said the incident in Kings Heath was "horrific" but "sadly not isolated", and many people had also been seriously injured recently.

"It's an epidemic, a crisis of dangerous driving and the resulting impact on the community around us," said Shivaji Shiva, of the group.

The road was very busy at the time the boy and woman were stuck, with parents taking children to the nearby primary school.

The boy remains in a critical condition in hospital, while the woman is in a stable condition, said West Midlands Police.

A 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and driving while unfit through drink or drugs. He has been released on bail, the force added.

Hundreds of people went to the rally near where the boy and woman were hit by a car

Thursday's collision happened close to where there is permanent memorial, a white bicycle, dedicated to Hope Fennell, who died in 2011 when she was hit by a lorry.

Mr Shiva said: "You can see from the crowds here - people are angry, people are sick to the stomach of this continuing carnage on our streets and what we want is we want to hear the people in power speaking now, acting now and doing something about this."

He said they were calling for all funded projects in the city to be "completed by 2025" to "make walking, cycling and wheeling around the streets of Birmingham safe".

The city council has given a detailed response to the group's open letter calling for change.

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