Schoolchildren’s lives are at risk on crossing, warns actress

A Hollywood actress today claimed lives were at risk from a "treacherous" central London pedestrian crossing.

Olivia Williams, 40, who starred in supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense, has started a petition to increase the length of time cars must stop at the junction of Marylebone Road and Enford Street. The mother-of-two uses the crossing to take her daughters to school.

She said: "People have a choice. Either they have to stand on the crowded central island for up to two minutes with children being edged closer and closer to traffic as the crowds become impatient for the lights to change, or start running at full pelt, trusting the concentration and generosity of rush-hour drivers not to run them over.

"Every morning I see people taking extraordinary risks with their own and their children's lives."

A Westminster council spokeswoman said: "We must balance the needs of traffic and pedestrians. In the past three years there have been no collisions involving pedestrians at this crossing."