A CLAIM that safety features were added to a pedestrian crossing after a 10-year-old girl was killed there has not been refuted by Herts Highways.

Bedwell Primary School pupil Yesmine Moumen died instantly in a collision with a Mercedes as she tried to cross Monkswood Way in Stevenage with her mother Yvonne on their way to buy Christmas presents on a wet afternoon in December 2010.

The driver of the car, Kevin Ruder, 45, of Keller Close, Stevenage, who was travelling with his son, was cleared by a jury at Cambridge Crown Court last month of causing death by careless driving.

Mrs Moumen maintains that she and her daughter only began to cross the road when the green man came on.

During the court case, prosecutor Robin Miric said: “There may be an argument that the actual layout may have caused a pedestrian waiting to be distracted by another green man further on in the sequence.”

A source has told the Comet that in the weeks following Yesmine’s death, a safety audit was carried out by Herts Highways and louvers - horizontal slats - were fitted to the pedestrian traffic signals.

Louvers are fitted to traffic signals to avoid the potential for any drivers or pedestrians to get confused by multiple sets of traffic signals.

Herts Highways has refused to confirm when the louvers were fitted and why.

A spokesman said: “We have nothing further to add to the statement made last week.”

The statement last week said “no faults were found with the signals”.