RESIDENTS of a village where a 12-year-old girl died in a school minibus accident are hoping they could soon secure traffic calming measures in the area.

People living in Hafodyrynys, near Crumlin, have expressed concerns about safety on the main road running through their village for many years. And they stepped up their campaign for traffic calming after Newbridge Comprehensive pupil Jasmine Allen died in an accident on her way to school in May.

Nine other children on the school minibus escaped serious injury. Two were hospitalised but have since made full recoveries.

Now residents are calling for variable speed message signs to be placed at either end of the village.

Andrew Lewis, chairman of the Hafodyrynys Community Association, said signs were recently placed in the village for the day by the Gwent unit of the Safety Camera Partnership.

"About half the village turned out to see how they worked and we were very pleased with their success," he said.

The signs flash up drivers' speeds as they head towards the signs, warning them that they are over the limit, and hopefully causing them to slow down.

"We had the signs in the morning and the afternoon and you could tell that the traffic was slowing. You could see the red braking lights coming on the cars," he said.

"Now we are hopeful that Caerphilly Council will fund these. This is a notorious road. Residents are all for it.

"We want it for the safety of the whole village. We have a lot of elderly people as well as youngsters."

Sergeant John Brown, manager of the Gwent unit of the Safety Camera Partnership, has attended three meetings with Hafodyrynys residents. He said the site met criteria for mobile speed cameras because it had one fatal accident and seven other personal injury accidents between 1998 and 2000.

But it did not meet the criteria for a permanent speed camera, which is four fatal or serious accidents within three years.

However, he said that the new variable speed message signs, were very effective.

Two people have been arrested and bailed in connection with the school bus crash.