A WINCHESTER councillor has called for road safety measures to be introduced after a crash that left an 11-year-old boy fighting for his life.

Felix Barrow, 11, was on his way to school in Swanmore when he was hit by a red Toyota Yaris at about 8am on Wednesday.

Police and ambulance services rushed to the scene and Felix was treated before being taken to Southampton General Hospital in Southampton, where he remains in a critical condition.

Officers are appealing for information on the crash, which happened outside his home on Hill Pound.

Victoria Weston, Winchester City Councillor for Swanmore, believes that action should be taken to help calm traffic.

Describing the crash as "awful news", she said: "I think it's getting worse because we have got more cars and there's more congestion so people are taking shortcuts and not respecting that they are residents' areas.

"It's something I raise all the time and I'm always phoning police community support officers and we have been trying very hard to get different signage.

"We try as hard as we can to get road signs to put 'slow' on the roads, but we have to rely on people to self police and respect the villagers."

Swanmore residents were woken by the sounds of sirens and a helicopter hovering overhead on Wednesday and witnesses said at least four emergency vehicles arrived after the crash.

The road was closed for three hours while officers carried out a thorough investigation of the scene.

Felix's grandmother Jean Reynolds told the Daily Echo that he suffered a broken leg and elbow and had been put in an induced coma.

The community was shaken by the crash, with some residents calling for speed cameras or road modifications to slow down vehicles.

One said: "Most of the accidents are at the crossroads at the top of the hill, but there’s a wall at the other crossroads and a car went through that. They have had half the house and the wall rebuilt.

"You have got the articulated lorries and that road is not wide enough – everybody thinks it."

A Hampshire Constabulary spokeswoman said: "Anyone who witnessed this incident is asked to contact Sergeant Wayne Voller of the South East Hampshire Roads Policing Unit on 101 quoting Operation Silkworm."