Woman knocked over on 'danger crossing'
A HOMELESS woman has been seriously injured at an accident blackspot that last year claimed the life of community campaigner Lisa Pontecorvo.
The 29-year-old was crossing Holloway Road, near its junction with Fieldway Crescent, Holloway, when she was in collision with a white van at about 5.30am on Tuesday.
She was rushed to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel with serious injuries. She sustained a broken leg - and is having a skin graft - but is expected to pull through.
Ali Yuksel, of Daisy's Café in Holloway Road, said: "When I arrived, the woman was lying in the road. They were putting her in an ambulance. Her clothes were covered in blood."
Holloway Road was closed for four hours. Shopkeepers insist that the junction must be made safer. They claim there are accidents involving pedestrians, who are confused by the double set of traffic lights. The most serious collision claimed the life of 64-year-old Ms Pontecorvo, who was crushed when she attempted to wheel her bike in front of a cement mixer on September 8 last year.
Cihangir Eren, of Moonlight Supermarket in Holloway Road, said: "It's always the same here. On Monday, a woman was hit by a car a little way up the road. In September, a man was crossing the road and was hit by a motorcycle. People don't understand the lights. I have been here 12 years and I have seen something every day. The authorities either need to make it illegal to cross here or they need to make the whole area a zebra crossing."
Furniture trader Robert Alan added: "The lights are really unclear. How many people have to die before something is done?"
Councillor Terry Stacy, the leader of Islington Council, is demanding that Transport for London - which is responsible for Holloway Road - ploughs money into making the junction safer. He said: "We are still waiting for action to be taken. Does another person have to die before the Mayor of London pulls his finger out?"
Transport for London said it was "investigating a number of options" to improve cyclist and pedestrian safety. A spokesman added: "We are working with Islington Council and other key stakeholders to redesign the junction and hope to agree a design and implement it as soon as possible."
* AN elderly man was seriously injured in a hit-and-run involving a stolen motorcycle.
The 74-year-old fractured his pelvis, left thigh and right hand in the crash, which occurred around 12.20pm on Tuesday at the junction of Caledonian Road and Copenhagen Street, Islington.
After the accident, the rider got off his stolen orange KTM motorcycle and abandoned it at the scene. He fled on a grey motorcycle that pulled up seconds later.
The elderly man, who is from Islington, was taken to University College Hospital in Euston. He is in a serious condition but is expected to recover. Anyone with information should call the collision investigation unit at Euston Traffic Garage on 020 7321 9912.
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