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WALTHAMSTOW: Injured artist calls for change to "dangerous" road layout

2:40pm Monday 16th November 2009


AN ARTIST who fears a “devastating” injury caused during an accident will permanently affect her ability to paint has slammed the design of a busy road junction in Walthamstow.

Grandmother-of-three Valeria Bateson, of West Avenue Road, was walking across Selborne Road in the direction of Walthamstow station when she was struck by a cyclist using the small cycle lane which crosses the busy junction from St Mary Road.

Mrs Bateson, who said the lights for the cycle lane were not working on the day of the accident, said: “I fell like a domino, I was in terrible pain, I did not see the cyclist.”

Mrs Bateson suffered a multiple fracture of her elbow, as well as bruising to her arm, neck and legs.

Retired Mrs Bateson produces and sells colourful representational works of art using paint, acrylic and pastels as a hobby.

She exhibited at the E17 Art Trail and her work has recently been used on the cover of the Forest Philharmonic's events brochure.

But following the insertion of a metal plate, she has been told by medical staff at Whipps Cross Hospital that she will never regain full mobility in her arm.

She said: “I am concerned but I will have to see how much it affects me.

“When you are an artist you have to move easels about, and drive in nails, it is actually quite physical.”

Mrs Bateson is now planning to launch a campaign to get the layout of the traffic junction changed.

Mrs Bateson believes cyclists wishing to cross Hoe Street from its eastern side should be required to follow the route of other traffic around the island – rather than being able to use the lane to cut across the street.

She said: “The cyclist was looking for traffic coming around the roundabout to his left, and not ahead to the pedestrian crossing.

“I think pedestrians are unaware that cyclists not looking straight ahead where they are going may approach that pedestrian crossing at speed whatever the lights may say, and the design of the junction is therefore dangerous.”

The accident happened on October 23. The identity of the cyclist, who rode away, is unknown.

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marsh warbler, says...
2:50pm Mon 16 Nov 09

Those of us who know and admire Valeria's work will hope for a full recovery. She is an indomitable lady so I'm sure, even after this setback, she will find a way to continue with her art. Our thoughts and best wishes are with her.

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G. Tingey, Walthamstow says...
6:47pm Mon 16 Nov 09

What's worse, is that the LIGHTS are working, but no-one can see them!

One supposes that the "workmen" (who took about two months to install a large set of traffic lights) were in the employ of LBWF - since they did such an awful job.
Even today, several of the light-heads are COVERED UP - and have been that way for the past two weeks, since the fake workmen went away.
So, if you are coming from St. Mary Road, for instance, you CAN'T SEE the light aspects.

Isn't that typical of this borough?

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Sigi from Walthamstow, Walthamstow says...
8:24pm Mon 16 Nov 09

Now it is time to SUE this Council. It depends when Valerie's accident happened but the traffic lights were out for weeks, and many of us have complained to the Council, councillors, and to our MP about this extremely dangerous situation. I suggest to contact a litigation solicitor on a 'no win no fee' basis - there are tons of ads on Classic FM (for instance BGR Bloomer). We see pure negligence from our council.This council's insurance must pay up for residents, who lose their livelihood due to our council's incompetence. The litigation solicitors should also check the print edition of the WF Guardian to find letters of concerned residents complaining about the traffic lights. Yes, there were some. Good luck to Valerie. Though I hope and pray that you will be able to paint again.

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mr rusty, Harlow says...
11:45am Tue 17 Nov 09

"She said: “The cyclist was looking for traffic coming around the roundabout to his left, and not ahead to the pedestrian crossing."

Has nobody noticed the discrepency in the story? Accident 'victim' says she saw the cyclist, noticed that he/she wasn't looking her way, yet STILL managed to step out in front and get knocked over!!!! Surely that's not the road junctions fault, or the cyclists for that matter.

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Walthamster, Walthamstow says...
12:27pm Tue 17 Nov 09

It is certainly this hit-and-run cyclist's fault, Mr Rusty.

He hit a pedestrian who was crossing the road legally. On top of that, he failed to stop after an accident, which is also illegal.

You'd think any human being would stop to see if the person he'd knocked down was all right - unless he knew he was in the wrong or didn't care.

The lights in this case did cause difficulties. But that doesn't excuse the cyclist's behaviour.

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mr rusty, Harlow says...
12:53pm Tue 17 Nov 09

Well yes you would assume the cyclist would stop, but there is still the point that just because it's a zebra crossing, one shouldn't assume the car/cycle/bus whatever has seen you and will stop, pedestrians need to take some responsibility themselves.

If you haven't made eye contact, and you can see that the approaching vehicle is not slowing or looking, then common sense says stay on the kerb, wether you're in the 'right' or not.....tufty knew that, shame he isn't around these days on tv.Mrs Bateson has seen him/her coming and by her own account not looking her way, yet she's still stepped out- would she have done this if it was a bus or a blue-light ambulance? Would she still have asserted her 'right' to cross?
We all need to take responsibility for our own safety and not expect someone else to do it for us- you see this attitude of 'it's my right' in the gangs of kids who swagger out of the college into forest road and dare you not to stop.
I'm sorry, it may have been her 'right of way' but she bears at least half of the responsibility for her injury.

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Techno2, Walthamstow says...
1:52pm Tue 17 Nov 09

mr rusty wrote:
Well yes you would assume the cyclist would stop, but there is still the point that just because it's a zebra crossing, one shouldn't assume the car/cycle/bus whatever has seen you and will stop, pedestrians need to take some responsibility themselves. If you haven't made eye contact, and you can see that the approaching vehicle is not slowing or looking, then common sense says stay on the kerb, wether you're in the 'right' or not.....tufty knew that, shame he isn't around these days on tv.Mrs Bateson has seen him/her coming and by her own account not looking her way, yet she's still stepped out- would she have done this if it was a bus or a blue-light ambulance? Would she still have asserted her 'right' to cross? We all need to take responsibility for our own safety and not expect someone else to do it for us- you see this attitude of 'it's my right' in the gangs of kids who swagger out of the college into forest road and dare you not to stop. I'm sorry, it may have been her 'right of way' but she bears at least half of the responsibility for her injury.
The twenty-twenty vision of hindsight all the way from Harlow. Impressive.

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mr rusty, Harlow says...
2:18pm Tue 17 Nov 09

Try reading the story in detail- all the words, and analyse what's been written before making silly sarcastic comments, because then you'll see it doesn't quite stack up.
Two quotes: Quote one “I fell like a domino, I was in terrible pain, I did not see the cyclist.” Quote two- She said: “The cyclist was looking for traffic coming around the roundabout to his left, and not ahead to the pedestrian crossing"
Now, she either saw him or she didn't...and reading the second quote one would have to assume that she did see the cyclist yet stepped out anyway. it's either sloppy journalism, not querying the discrepency,and we can only assume these quotes have come directly from the victim as there don't appear to be any independant witnesses or cctv ffotage, or Mrs bateson hasn't quite got her story straight. Either way' i'd have liked to have seen a more probing report seeing as it's giving quite a bit of coverage to something which happened getting on for a month ago.


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Walthamster, Walthamstow says...
2:23pm Tue 17 Nov 09

I don't see the discrepancy. It sounds pretty clear that the pedestrian he didn't see a cyclist coming as she stepped out. But she's being generous enough to see it from the cyclist's viewpoint, and saying that (she presumes) the cyclist was looking out for traffic.

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Techno2, Walthamstow says...
3:01pm Tue 17 Nov 09

mr rusty wrote:
Try reading the story in detail- all the words, and analyse what's been written before making silly sarcastic comments, because then you'll see it doesn't quite stack up. Two quotes: Quote one “I fell like a domino, I was in terrible pain, I did not see the cyclist.” Quote two- She said: “The cyclist was looking for traffic coming around the roundabout to his left, and not ahead to the pedestrian crossing" Now, she either saw him or she didn't...and reading the second quote one would have to assume that she did see the cyclist yet stepped out anyway. it's either sloppy journalism, not querying the discrepency,and we can only assume these quotes have come directly from the victim as there don't appear to be any independant witnesses or cctv ffotage, or Mrs bateson hasn't quite got her story straight. Either way' i'd have liked to have seen a more probing report seeing as it's giving quite a bit of coverage to something which happened getting on for a month ago.
I have no more idea of the facts than you but would be wary of drawing conclusions too early. The story is a report in the local newspaper, not a deposition in a piece of civil litigation.

I would not be surprised, for instance, if someone who saw what happened told Valeria Bateson what they had seen of the cyclist. Maybe someone who investigated the incident discussed what occured with her and gave her the beneift of thier deductions. I have no idea.

What we can deduce is that Valeria Bateson did not deliberately set out to be hit by the cyclist. We can speculate that the cyclist did it deliberately (some cyclists can be quite aggressive these days) or saw her but was reckless as to whether she would see him or be able to get out of the way. These are possibilities. Most likely, though, the cyclist was not paying proper attention. If the latter, then this could be due to his being a bad cyclist or because there is a the possibility that he could have been distracted by the poor traffic layouts and the traffic flows. If the latter, there is a danger to the public, (pedestrians and cyclists alike) from other cyclists behaving in a similar manner. This ought to be sorted out.

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Valeria Bateson, Walthamstow says...
6:05pm Wed 18 Nov 09

I did not see the cyclist before he struck me. Two other people helped me up in the middle of the road, and I was reporting comments by one of them on how the accident happened. Incidentally this is not a zebra crossing, but a crossing with pedestrian lights. Anyone familiar with it will understand the danger to pedestrians from the cycle path entering the road there.

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Valeria Bateson was injured by a hit-and-run cyclist The cycle lane at the top of Selborne Road

Valeria Bateson was injured by a hit-and-run cyclist

WALTHAMSTOW: Injured artist calls for change to "dangerous" road layout





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