The family of a Portadown teenager who remains in hospital following a crash on Halloween night have appealed for more safety precautions in Scotch Street.
Sarah-Louise McCauley was seriously injured when she was knocked down in a collision that occurred near her home in the area on Tuesday, October 31.
The 15-year-old’s sister Jessica Abraham has since said they waited for over an hour-and-a-half for an ambulance to arrive at the scene.
She confirmed that Sarah-Louise sustained severe facial lacerations, two bleeds on the brain, a bleed and bruising on her lung, a broken nose with multiple fractures; fractures in her femur and bruising and cuts to her whole body.
As of Saturday (November 4), Sarah-Louise was in the Ulster Hospital awaiting facial surgery.
Jessica said that Sarah-Louise has a “long road ahead for her recovery”.
To keep such a tragedy from happening again, she launched a plea for the community to band together to get extra safety precautions in place in Scotch Street, which she says has built up more in the last 15 years.
“We need more Street lighting, pavements for pedestrians, flashing speed indicator before entering the area, even speed bumps put in place,” wrote Jessica.
“Just anything that will control the speed. People use that road like a race track. When will something be done? We don’t need any more road fatalities.”
Jessica continued: “Our health service is in a crisis, we waited for over an hour and a half for an ambulance to come to the scene. I can’t stress how important it is for people to carry a basic first-aid kit in their cars. You never know when it can be required. Please if you witness an accident please stop and help provide first aid to the person until help arrives.”
She also thanked the community for their support for the family, saying: “I want to thank the public for keeping Sarah Louise in their thoughts and prayers over the past few days. It is a very hard and distressing time for us all as a family.”
