A Kingston town centre road has been singled out as the most dangerous street for accidents involving buses.
Eden Street, that serves a number of bus routes, had 10 accidents involving pedestrians between 2011 and June 2013 – nearly half of all the accidents in the borough.
Kingston town centre Councillor Chrissie Hitchcock said: “London buses and the council are aware of accidents happening in Eden Street, mostly due to careless jay walking.
“Obviously, bus drivers have been warned to drive carefully in the town and we have imposed a 20mph limit.
“We will aim to bring back the advertising campaign we used two years ago that shows an elephant and a bus with the slogan ‘Would you walk in front of this elephant?’”
There were 22 accidents in the borough involving buses with Transport for London (TfL) routes – two of which involved cyclists.
Piers Kemp, who works at Banquet Records in Eden Street, said: “You can get this huge backlog of buses, which is less dangerous because they’re not going so fast, but you are forced to walk between them and you have to see if there are any cars. It is a bit dodgy.
“Sometimes they fly by. I do feel they are getting a bit too comfortable.”
Jon Fray, from Kingston Cycling Campaign, said: “It does feel intimidating to cycle through Eden Street.
“If you are going to cycle down Eden Street you are going to have your wits about you.”
The figures come from a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Surrey Comet.
Figures showed the 281 and 65 buses were the most dangerous routes, as both were involved in six accidents each.
Other roads prone to bus accidents included Brook Street and Richmond Road.
TfL said it did not investigate crashes itself and that follow-up reports and risks identified from these accidents were handled by bus operators.
Eden Street had previously been singled out for a major town centre plan worth £500m that would see the road pedestrianised and a new two-tier shopping district built, but this fell through in 2010 after developer Hammerson decided it would cut its plans by 60 per cent.
Have you been involved in an incident involving a bus in Kingston upon Thames? Call the newsdesk on 020 8744 4244 or email: newsdesk@surreycomet.co.uk.
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