A LEADING campaigner for the A590 bypass found herself nursing a man with life-threatening head injuries who was the victim of the fourth serious road crash at Low Newton in the past four weeks.

Mandy Dixon, who has been a key lobbyist for a bypass around the villages of Low and High Newton, was two cars behind one of the vehicles involved in the accident which happened at 4.20pm on Monday.

She held the head of accident victim Carl Parton of Slyne, near Lancaster, as he slipped in and out of consciousness until paramedics arrived on the scene.

"I was there with blood on my hands," she said.

"It makes you think.

What are the odds like for me? I drive that road two or three times a day, one of my children wants to start driving soon."

Rush hour traffic was gridlocked for three hours around the crash site after Mr Parton's black Toyota Celica collided with a seven-and-a-half-tonne Leyland lorry.

Lorry driver Christopher Lowthian of Langwathby, near Penrith, was uninjured.

Mr Parton was taken by air ambulance to Furness General Hospital but was later transferred to intensive care at Preston Royal Infirmary where his condition is described as "critical but stable."

Mrs Dixon said that villagers felt "bullied" into accepting traffic calming measures planned by The Highways Agency as a solution to the death toll on the road.

"In a four-week period on that particular stretch of road we have had two deaths, this serious injury and another accident further up the road.

It's the state of the road that is the problem.

"None of the accidents in the past months would have been solved by traffic calming measures.

We need to recall confirmation of support from local politicians for a bypass."

Any witnesses to the accident are asked to contact Gordan Robson of the Ulverston Mobile Support Group on 01768-891999.