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It was an accident. At 3.15pm, a lady in her 80s was crossing the road near the cemetery and stepped out in front of a car. The car braked but was unable to stop in time and sadly the elderly lady suffered serious injuries. Brenchley Gardens was temporary closed and the P12s were on diversion down Athenlay Road. I hope that the lady makes a good and speedy recover and am thinking of her friends and family at this time.


Renata

a car going 20mph should have been able to stop.


That very much depends on how close she was to the car when she stepped out (assuming that's what happened). If the car was doing 20mph or less the impact effects will have been much reduced - this is the key benefit from imposing reduced speed limits, not a reduction in stopping times. Assuming the car was driving at 20mph but the driver in braking still hit her, the impact will have been additionally reduced by the reduced speed through braking.


The key victims of car: pedstrian accidents on local roads (where the car is being responsibly driven and the driver is not impaired) tend to be the infirm, elderly or poorly sighted moving into the road unaware of the traffic, or children (ditto). The design of modern cars (making them much quieter if not (hybrid or electric) silent) makes pedestrian care even more important - you don't any longer always 'hear it coming' - so the old Green Cross code which suggested you look and listen is no longer as helpful.

A fierce argument took place at the junction of Athenlay and Kelvington Road that same afternoon. Two guys shouting the odds out on the street. A grey car then pulled up outside No 40 with such force, it ruptured the front tyre hitting the pavement. The driver got out and joined in. As the sound of sirens approached, the driver and one of the guys involved in the argument jumped back into the car and attempted to speed off down Kelvington with its tyre flapping. The other guy they'd been arguing with went back into the house. The police car shot down Athenlay. Could that incident have been connected with the OP?

Thank you for posting the details Renata (and maybe people will think before posting gossip next time?).


I, like everyone else, hope the elderly lady makes a full recovery, and wish her and her family well.


PS...mynamehere....a collision with an 80 year old at any speed is going to cause serious injuries. At that age, bodies are more fragile, especially if there are underlying conditions. I don't thinks it's helpful to automatically assume the car must have been going faster. I'm sure the driver is shocked too. I think most people would be very upset to collide with a pedestrian, even when it is not they who are at fault. Let's leave it to the Police to do their job. There's really no need to analyse what if's here.

20 mph is around 9 meters per second. A reaction time of 0.5 seconds is often quoted as an "average" time for a normal driver. According to google, once you slam the breaks, a typical breaking distance before you reach a standstill is about 6 meters for 20mph. So from the moment that the driver spots the person until having reached a complete stop is 4.5 + 6 =~ 10m, not an inconsiderable distance!
Cars speed along this road all the time and ignore the 20mph limit and many brake very harshly just before the speed camera as they don't expect it to be there. I get quite nervous cycling along this road due to the speed of other drivers. I've always felt it was only going to be a matter of time before there was some sort of accident on this stretch.

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