The mum of a child who broke her leg after colliding with a cyclist outside the school gates is among those calling for new safety measures in a petition.

Olivia Kelly-Hicks was just five-years-old when she was playing with a friend on a pathway beside Wimbledon Chase Primary School when she collided with a cyclist.

The youngster's mother Jo Bullas said that she was thrown into the air as her one-year-old twin brothers looked on from their pushchair, and was taken to hospital.

She spent six months recovering from the break in her left leg, missing lessons and learning from home.

The 'death trap' cycle path runs alongside the school in Merton Hall Road, Wimbledon, and has apparently been the cause of many near misses involving youngsters and passing cyclists.

Now parents have started a petition calling for improved safety around the Chase Path entry to the school, including putting up give way signs to notify cyclists of the pedestrian priority across the cycle path, repainting the cycle path markings and widening the school gate.

The petition will go to Merton Council. After Olivia's accident in September last year, parents say a sign was put up but it has since disappeared.

Mum-of-three Mrs Bullas, of Ethelbert Road, Wimbledon, said: "Cyclists fly down there at a crazy speed - it will happen again without a doubt.

"I would hate for someone else to go through what we went through.

"Some people don't know there's a school there until they pass it. "It's a death trap."

Amanda Bearman, a mum-of-two, set up the online petition, which has collected more than 200 signatures.

Mrs Bearman said: "The cyclists swerve around children not stopping.

"I have been astonished by the response to the petition. A lot of people have commented on it.

"It is only a matter of time before there's a more serious accident." Councillor Andrew Judge said: "I would say having cycled that route many times it is very clear where the path is.

"It is possible for cyclists to live alongside pedestrians. "We have to be particularly sensitive where children are concerned.

"We will examine anything that's put to us - we want to encourage cycling but we need safety for pedestrians and school children."

To sign the petition visit the website.

 

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