THE Kent Messenger’s Lights For Life campaign was launched following an inquest into the deaths two years ago of three young men on a stretch of motorway at Addington.

The series of collisions began when car driven by 19-year-old Ricci Parker, from Snodland, hit the back of a lorry and lost control just before Junction 3, stopping across the outside lane.

Unable to see the car in the pitch black, three vehicles hit the car. The collisions left Mr Parker and his passenger Kevin Wratten, also from Snodland, and 33-year-old motorcyclist Jimmy Atirene, from Orpington, dead.

Now Melissa Finnis, Mr Parker’s mother, has added her support to the campaign, saying she believes the Highways Agency should do all it can to make the stretch of motorway where her son died safer.

She said: "I think it is imperative for the area to be lit up. So many lives have already been taken - its now time for some action to be taken."

The Kent Messenger made its first major breakthrough after the Highways Agency, which is in charge of motorways, vowed to 'replace' existing lighting at the junction at a cost of up to £700,000.

It may also provide lighting along the M26 slip road.

But Jimmy Atirene’s partner Karen Walden, who has backed the campaign from the start, said the Highways Agency was wrong to say there were lights already in place at the junction.

She said: "There aren’t any there are there? You can’t replace what’s not there."

A Snodland resident, who has asked not to be named, said Junction 3 was dangerous and has pledged her support for the campaign.

"My husband’s a taxi driver and he goes to and fro past that junction," she said. "There is an even bigger problem with road markings - but the lighting is terrible.

"People who are travelling to London and other people going to the M26 are realising at the last minute they’re on the wrong part of the road. They cut across.

"I do agree about the street lighting. It always has been quite bad."

To pledge your support for the campaign write to the Kent Messenger, 6 & 7 Middle Row, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1TG or email messengernews@thekmgroup.co.uk.