Roadworks chaos puts lives at risk, says coroner in inquest of girl, 10, killed by lorry

 
Caring daughter: Latoya Smith, 10, died crossing the road near her school in south London
John Dunne @jhdunne3 July 2013

A coroner today said lives were being put in danger by chaotic roadworks after a 10 year old girl was crushed to death by a lorry.

Latoya Smith was hit at the junction of East Dulwich Road and Peckham Rye by the truck while on her journey to school.

There were roadworks in the area and the regular pedestrian crossing and traffic lights were closed, the inquest was told.

A jury at Southwark Coroners Court found that the death was an accident and criticised the confusion at the junction.

It said in its verdict: “Throughout the period when the traffic lights were switched out at the junction opportunities were lost to provide signs for alternative pedestrian routes.”

The jury also took issue with the lack of barriers stopping pedestrians crossing where Latoya died.

The roadworks were being carried out by Southern Gas Network on a Southwark borough council road.

Coroner Dr Andrew Harris said: “I’m satisfied that there is a risk that continues to lives of members of the public in certain situations where the pedestrian lights are switched out.”

He said that he would be writing to the department of transport calling for better management of roadworks.

That would include barriers being more sturdy as vandals often dragged them off. He said that more attention to safe routes for pedestrians should be addressed when roadworks are carried out.

The coroner said it was a “tragic death” and that he hoped his recommendations would help minimise the chance of it happening again.

Latoya had been travelling to Camelot school where she was described as a popular and hardworking pupil, the inquest had heard.

She died of her injuries in hospital soon after the incident in January 2010.

The jury said that evidence Latoya was wearing earphones could have meant she had been distracted at the time of the accident.

It also concluded that the driver of the lorry simply had not seen the little girl.

Latoya’s mother Grace Johnson said after the verdict: “I miss my little girl Latoya. There is a lot of emptiness in my heart.”

Ms Johnson, who has two other children, added: “We must now try to move on with our lives.”

She had told the inquest that her daughter was doing well at school and liked maths and reading.

She said that she had wanted to be a teacher and was a talented athlete.

Her mother said that Latoya, who was just weeks away from her eleventh birthday, also volunteered to help with fundraisers and had baked a cake for an event the night before she died.

She added that she was “a caring girl who looked after me when I had a bad leg.”

The court heard that she had walked her to her bus stop and said goodbye only to be informed of the accident by police later in the morning.

Asked about her road sense she told the court: “She (Latoya) was good at crossing the road.”

A post mortem showed that Latoya died from injuries sustained in the accident.

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