Tragedy sparked renewed concerns over crossings
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by Rachael Woods
rwoods@thekmgroup.co.uk
Whitstable hairdresser Audrey Randall has spoken out over the
safety of the town’s pedestrian crossings following the death of a
pensioner last week.
The 80-year-old woman, named locally as Jean Kingsley of
Cypress Close, was hit by a car on the Oxford Street crossing
two weeks ago and died from her injuries at Margate’s QEQM
hospital.
Mrs Randall is concerned about the traffic-light controlled
crossing by the railway bridge, which she describes as 'three-way’
as Oxford Street, Canterbury Road and Belmont Road feed into
it.
She
said: “Quite a lot of drivers ignore the red lights and others turn
right onto Belmont Road and this is not allowed. Over the years I
have spoken to police about my concerns but nothing ever seems to
happen.
“It seems nothing is ever done to improve safety on crossings
until someone is killed or injured, but why wait until something
awful happens?”
Mrs Randall said the fatal collision at the library crossing was
the ideal opportunity to draw attention to other safety concerns on
crossings.
Retired policeman Chris Ritchford said in the wake of the
pensioner’s death that he had previously seen a few near misses on
the crossing between the Co-operative and the library.
He called for improvements, describing the crossing as “firmly
out of date”.
- An inquest into Mrs Kingsley’s death is expected to open early
next week and will be adjourned.
Thursday, January 26 2012
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