Residents call for more pedestrian crossings on Lewisham High Street

Proposed Pedestrian Crossing Graphic Pic: Lucinda Diamond

Hundreds have signed a petition calling for more pedestrian crossings on Lewisham High Street after a woman hit by a bus was taken to hospital for head injuries.

Keely Webster, 33, a customer care assistant from Deptford, started the petition on November 10, which has already gained 314 signatures.

The petition urges TfL and Lewisham Council to provide more pedestrian crossings; something Webster claims the road “desperately” needs.

Webster told ELL: “The buses are driving too fast. I see a lot of elderly people chancing it in between buses and it’s scary.”

Her petition comes after a woman was hit by a bus on November 7, causing a total shutdown on the high street for over an hour.

The victim was taken to the Major Trauma Centre at a nearby hospital where she was treated for head injuries.

Residents have previously expressed the real danger faced by pedestrians on the high street and the need for change on Twitter. Tom Forman, a local resident, shared a tweet he had posted a year ago about the hazardous flaws with the crossings on the high street.

Pic: @TomFormanUK

“The most dangerous pedestrian junction in #Lewisham! Why are there no East/West protected crossings?”

Forman then retweeted his earlier comment along with the caption:

I tweeted [this] about a year ago. @TFL @LewishamCouncil do something!”

Webster is also in favour of more pedestrian crossings. She said: “As a new mum, I would like to see a pedestrian crossing by the Three Phone shop on Albion Way. Another option would be to pedestrianise the high street altogether and make the buses go down the other side of the shopping centre on Molesworth Street. It would be much safer.”

As Road Safety Week begins, residents have used the petition as a platform to detail their own dangerous experiences on the high street.

One concerned citizen said on the site: “My 80 year old father has been a Lewisham resident for almost 60 years but now due to his lack of mobility and speed, is unable to shop independently as he has either a very long walk which he cannot manage or he has to try and cross the road between buses to get to the bus stop”

Another spoke of a personal tragedy: “My neighbour in Bonfield road was killed exactly here years ago. Nothing was done then. Lewisham need to make this a priority, shocking lack of provision.”

According to TfL’s quarterly bus safety data, there have been 67 bus-related injuries in Lewisham alone between July and September in 2017. Most were minor injuries but six people were reported to have been seriously injured.

Lewisham Council were approached for comment but failed to respond.

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