Road safety calls have been made on a busy Ipswich road where a pedestrian died following a collision, with one person saying: “One life is too much.”
Katy Wright, from Ipswich, described seeing a mass of blue lights as paramedics and police attended to the serious crash in Star Lane at around 10.25pm on Saturday, March 23.
Ambulance workers were apparently seen attending to one person close to the Premier Inn car park after a silver Ford Fiesta was involved in a collision with a pedestrian on the road, which runs from the double roundabouts next to the River Orwell to Grimwade Street.
However despite the best efforts of emergency workers, the pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene.
Miss Wright, 35, who uses Star Lane every day and was passing the scene at the time of the accident, said: “It’s so sad to hear a person has died - that’s horrible.
“I was driving towards Duke Street and the ambulance service had basically blocked the road off by the Premier Inn.
“It was hard to see what was going on - there was just a mass of blue lights.
“There was a huge amount of traffic building up - everyone was being diverted down Foundation Lane. When I came back after 11pm the other way, they were still there and at that point had completely closed the road off.
“Police worked quickly to stop the traffic flowing.
“I can’t say what happened or what caused it - you can’t speculate. However something needs to be put in place to slow traffic down.
“I know how bad traffic gets along there, but if you had a speed camera at 30mph then it doesn’t stop the traffic from flowing.
“It’s sad that the person died. One life is too much. It shows how fragile life is.”
Habib Batkitar, who works at Stylish Furniture in Star Lane, said: “Someone has died - that’s quite a big event.
“Generally, it seems a safe area. I’ve only seen one accident in the last two years.
“Cars obviously go quite slow at peak times, particularly in the morning and late afternoon, because there is a lot of congestion. I wouldn’t say that generally speed is an issue.”
He added that the road could possibly benefit from an extra pedestrian crossing, saying: “With the amount of traffic, there is not always a facility where pedestrians can cross at peak times.”
Jay Deverell, a bar manager at Bears Pool and Snooker, also in Star Lane, said: “Generally police are often there in the car park opposite ours to check if people are speeding.”
Witnesses or anybody who may have any relevant dash-cam footage are asked to call the Serious Collision Investigation Team on 101 quoting reference 451 of March 23.
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