Campaigners echo The Beatles ro make their point in Camden Road

CAMPAIGNERS are demanding new zebra crossings and “beg buttons” to put a stop to the “chaotic” traffic around Camden Road.

Parents, teachers, and local representatives gathered on Monday to collect signatures for a petition to TfL.

They said that children walking to Tufnell Park Primary School were being put in danger by the “ridiculous” crossings in the area.

“We’re a big school, there’s lots of children,” said headteacher Martin Scarborough.

“At least half of our children walk this way to school, but because access to the streets has been changed, there isn’t a safe place to cross anywhere.”

The group are asking for a zebra crossing on Dalmeny Avenue, a narrowing of the road where it meets Camden Road, and a button for pedestrians to push where they cross Hilldrop Road.

Sheridan Kates, the Green Party candidate in the ward, said: “These poor kids, having to cross this, it’s terrifying. We want a narrowing of the junction so that there’s less space to cross, because at the moment it’s such a wide crossing.”

The campaigners asked people crossing at Hilldrop Road to place stickers on a board to show their support, and are calling on TfL to do a community visit to see the danger for themselves.

Caroline Russell, a Green councillor in Highbury who also sits in the London Assembly, said: “TfL used to do community visits with assembly members, but they’re not doing that at the moment because they’ve had cuts. They’ve said they’re looking at their priorities [but] they absolutely should be prioritising road danger reduction, and that is quite clearly a dangerous junction that we’ve just looked at.”

Cllr Caroline Russell in the thick of the campaign for improved safety

Cllr Russell added that TfL should be doing everything in their power if they hope to meet their target of reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured on the road to zero by 2041.

She told the Tribune: “They are not on target to meet that, and they absolutely need to be taking every measure possible to plug these casual, lazy gaps in everyday safety.”

Campaigners have a petition ready for TfL

A TfL spokesperson said: “We’re determined to eradicate deaths and serious injuries from London’s roads, which is why we’re working closely with London’s boroughs to deliver improvements across the capital, including in Camden and Islington.

“Our investment in roads across the capital continues to focus on where it can have the greatest impact in making roads safer. There are no current plans to make changes at these two junctions, but we will work with Islington Council to keep them under review to ensure that people can travel safely.”