Motorcyclist ‘left for dead’ after Harrow crash prompts new road crossing

A London council has been urged to install greater safety measures on a residential road after allegations a motorcyclist was “left for dead” after being hit by a car. One resident criticized the council for failing to act after last year he warned the road was an “accident waiting to happen”.

At a recent meeting of Harrow Council’s Traffic and Road Safety Advisory Committee (TARSAP) (May 13), the committee was told they needed to “move much faster” to put a pedestrian island at the junction of Whitmore Road and Drury Road following a collision. between a motorcycle and a car last year.

Local resident Dipaque Bhatt is calling for safety measures to be put in place after the stop to help the rider injured in the accident. He said it needed to be done “before another accident happens”, having previously raised concerns about the potential risk.

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Dipaque claimed: “I wanted to go to the gym but in the end I had to stop, the biker was on the ground in total pain. The guy’s leg was broken and he was left there for dead.”

He added: “What I would like to see (…) is a pedestrian island in the middle of the road. To prevent drivers from cutting the corner; for slowing down cars entering the road; and to provide pedestrians with a safe space to cross the road safely and make their journey safely.”

Dipaque argued that 90 per cent of cars pass the corner “day in and day out” and therefore it is not just a motoring offense but a matter for the council to deal with. He suggested road safety should be “quite high” for the panel, adding: “This is a serious injury, he has a broken femur.”

Committee chairman Cllr Ameet Jogia said: “I appreciate that this is a very serious incident. In terms of next steps, the collision at the junction of Drury Road and Whitmore Road is still being investigated by police. This means that it is not possible to recommend specific improvement measures at this stage as the details of the incident are not known.”

He added: “Police will be carrying out speed and volume checks in Drury Road as an unrelated task. When we have more information from these investigations, we will be able to advise you on what action we will take, if necessary.”

Council ‘must act faster’

However, Dipaque believes the council “needs to act faster” in case “someone is going to run in there tomorrow or the day after tomorrow” because greater security measures have not been put in place. He said: “I actually warned this board last year that something was going to happen, something has happened now and we’re still in this limbo where we’re still waiting.”

Cllr Jogia agreed the council “needs to act more quickly” and will try “other measures” to address the concerns while legal proceedings in the case are concluded. He added: “I will make sure as a matter of priority that we follow up with the police in their investigation so that we can move forward to decide what we can do next.”

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