Safety fears after two crashes in same road (From News Shopper)

Safety fears after two crashes in same road

12:57pm Monday 6th October 2008 in

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RESIDENTS are scared to walk up their street after two car crashes on the same stretch of road within 18 hours.

Georgina Meacher rushed out of her house on Saturday night (October 4) after hearing a screeching sound then a loud bang as a black Peugeot 206 smashed into a wall in Charterhouse Road, Orpington.

The driver is believed to have just picked his girlfriend up from work and had his younger sister in the back of the vehicle at the time of the accident.

They managed to get themselves out of the car but two of them needed to be treated for minor injuries and were taken to Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup.

A 69-year-old man had to be taken to the Princess Royal University Hospital, Farnborough, after the second accident.

Too shocked to speak

His red BMW was in collision with a stationary silver Toyota Prius before it struck a garden wall and then came to a stop after hitting a home.

The homeowner Eileen Cutts, 72, had just come out of hospital after a heart operation and was too shocked to speak to the News Shopper.

But nearby resident Mrs Meacher is now worried that a driver might lose control of their car and hit a person in the street.

Mrs Meacher, 61, said: "I woke up and said to my husband please do not take the dog today and my sons said do not go to the park because we have had so many accidents.

"I'm beginning to feel that I don't want to walk up the road in case they come round the bend quickly."

'Very worrying'

The retired office manager added: "It is the start of autumn now and we have had two accidents and we had one a few months ago and we always have a couple a year.

"Why should somebody die before something gets done?"

Another homeowner, who did not want to be named, said: "My wife walks up there with our baby and it is very worrying.

"I take a picture of every car involved in an accident and will be writing to the council."

Mother-of-two Anne Dickens, 45, said: "One day it might not be a wall that is hit, it might be a person."

Incidents 'could have been far worse'

Bernard Horsham says Saturday night's accident is the third time his wall has been hit by drivers coming round the bend.

He believes there is a problem with the road surface because he says accidents only occur when it is wet or icy.

Mr Horsham said: "The accident on Saturday could have been much more serious and the one on Sunday could have been far worse as well.

"Drivers I have spoken to say they seemed to lose the grip on the rear end of the car.

"It's the road surface itself that needs to be sorted.

"I'm quite sure that the council should do something about it."

A Bromley police spokesman says there have been eight collisions in the road during the past year.

People were injured in five out of eight of the incidents.

News Shopper is in the process of obtaining a comment from Bromley Council.