A road barrier that proved lethal for a ten-year-old girl earlier this year has been removed pending modifications by Public Works.

But area resident Sidney Simons, who told The Royal Gazette he’d fought to get the barrier put up nearly 40 years ago, has issued an appeal for fresh caution while Southampton Tribe Road No 1 remains open.

“Tuesday morning I went down the street early and these motorcycles came tearing down the Tribe Road — I had to jump into the trees to avoid getting hit,” Mr Simons said.

“I had to fight about three years to get those barriers put up, after my mother, who was 88 years old at the time, got knocked down by a bike coming down the road there.”

Mr Simons said he’d wrangled with MPs before approaching a contact in Works and Engineering to have the metal barrier installed.

Last week, in response to a renewed plea from the family of Tiffanelle Pitcher-Francis, Government announced plans to alter the barriers so that children couldn’t attempt to ride underneath the horizontal metal pipe.

At that time, a Public Works spokesman also stated: “The Ministry cannot remove the barrier as it would mean that people could speed down the Tribe Road and come into conflict with users on the Railway Trail.”

As of yesterday, however, motorcyclists looking for an illegal shortcut off Camp Hill Road were continuing to do precisely that, Mr Simons said, as the road is currently wide open.

“We need something back up as soon as possible to make sure nobody else gets hurt there,” he said. “It’s a public Tribe Road — it’s pedestrian, not for bikes. They’ve got the main road for that.”

There was no response from Public Works when The Royal Gazette asked how soon the new barriers were expected to go in place.