THE mother of a teenager killed in a crash on a notorious Hampshire road had demanded the speed limit is slashed.

Jade Clark’s mum handed in a petition to councillors calling for the crackdown.

Over the past five months Sharon Clark, together with Jade’s stepfather Danny and her nan Linda Pidgley, have gathered more than 1,600 signatures calling for the speed limit to be reduced.

They want it cut from Burley to the Ashley Heath roundabout, where the 16- year-old was killed last year.

The family handed the petition into Ringwood Town Council.

She said if the speed limit had been 50mph last year at the time of the crash, the minibus driver who ran over Jade after she was knocked off her scooter might have seen her and stopped.

“It is nice to know that people feel the same way we do about this,” she said, after presenting the petition to the town council meeting.

“Had that driver been doing 50mph he would have been able to brake in time.

“It is a very dangerous bit of road with cars switching lanes and pulling out of side roads into 70mph traffic.

“I hope someone will take notice of this petition and it won’t be brushed under the carpet. I don’t want anyone else to have to go through what I have gone through.”

Mayor Steve Rippon Swaine said the council would ask New Forest West MP Desmond Swayne to bring the petition to the attention of Minister for Transport Stephen Hammond.

He said they would continue pushing for improved signage on the route, which had been promised by the minister.

Last year the council called for a 50mph restriction between Picket Post and the roundabout but the Government turned it down, saying only three per cent of the accidents that occurred there were due to speeding.

Also speaking at the meeting, Councillor Michael Thierry praised Mrs Clark’s courage.

“Mrs Clark’s demeanour demonstrates the impact this has had upon her life, and it takes courage to deal with these things,” he said.

“It takes courage to go around asking people to sign a petition, particularly when your heart is broken.”

He said the A31 safety campaign should be named the Jade Clark Campaign as a fitting tribute.

In October it was revealed that the driver jailed for six years over Jade’s death had launched an appeal against his sentence.

Former paramedic Brian Hampton, was found guilty by a jury of causing the crash and then attempting to evade justice.

The father-of-two, 58, from Shadoxhurst, near Ashford, was driving his Volvo XC90 along the A31 in February last year when it struck Jade who was riding her moped.