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14

Nov 2023

Last Updated: 14/11/2023
Community
Community

Daughter of man, 90, killed on A61 calls for 'horrendous' road to be made safer

by John Grainger

| 14 Nov, 2023
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lucjanwilk
Lucjan Wilk was killed on the A61 between Harrogate and Killinghall.

The daughter of a 90-year-old man who was killed when he was knocked down by a car is calling for better safety measures to be urgently introduced on the stretch of the A61 Ripon Road where he was hit. 

Lucjan Wilk had just got off the number 36 bus when he was struck by a Ford Fiesta travelling towards Killinghall on Monday night (November 6). He sustained multiple serious injuries and died the following evening in Leeds General Infirmary. 

Polish-born Mr Wilk lived with his daughter, Paulina, and her husband in a house near the bus-stop.

She told the Stray Ferret: 

“This road is just horrendous. People come flying down that hill – I don’t think anyone does less than 50mph, and many go a lot faster than that. 
“There’s also no lighting between Harrogate and Killinghall, and not even any on Knox Mill Lane. It’s so dangerous. 
“I don’t think they put the bus-stop in the right place at all.” 


Paulina is now calling on North Yorkshire Council to reduce the speed limit to 30mph between Harrogate and Killinghall, to install proper lighting, and to introduce other traffic-calming measures, such as speed-indicator display signs. She said: 

“It’s a big problem, and I’ve asked the council for more lighting here before, but nobody’s listening. It’s like we don’t exist.” 


Mr Wilk, who came to England with his family in 1978, had lived with Paulina and her husband ever since his wife moved into a care home three months ago.

He had taken the bus into Harrogate every day since then to visit his wife, to whom friends say he was devoted. 

Paulina can see the spot where her father was struck from her kitchen window. She said: 

“I have to pass it every day on my way into town, too – there's no escape.  
“My dad was a wonderful person, and unbelievably fit for 90 years old. It’s so unfair – he didn’t deserve to die like that.” 


In tragic twist of irony, Paulina used to live on Leeds Road, where she was very concerned about speeding cars “using it as a racetrack”.

She moved to her current address because she thought it would be quieter. She said: 

“I complained to the council about the speeding there, and they contacted me and sympathised, but that was the end of it. A police officer even told me that sometimes it takes a tragedy, like someone’s death, to make them do something. Well, that tragedy has happened now, so I hope something will be done.”