Hackney Council urged to address safety in Homerton streets

Two weeks ago, Anna Mojab was walking with her children in Valentine Road when a car veered off the road, onto the pavement and through a fence, almost hitting her eldest daughter.

She said the “horrifying” crash is one of many to have taken place at the junction with Poole Road in recent years - with another mum suggesting low traffic neighbourhoods have funneled traffic to the area.

People living in the two streets have now told Hackney Council that “something needs to be done”, after what they describe as years of inaction to address safety concerns.

A car veered off Valentine Road two weeks ago (Image: Supplied)

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Anna, who has lived in Valentine Road for seven years, said: “The consensus is, something needs to be done.

“It doesn’t feel nice walking to school or to the shops with cars speeding up the road.

“We’re supposed to be living in a 20mph borough and people are not driving at 20mph. It’s scary. You just always have to be on your guard.”

Mum-of-two Larissa Pople, who has lived in Poole Road for almost two decades, described the school run as “terrifying”.

Parents are worried about the safety of children on the school run (Image: Supplied)

She said: “A lot of kids cross Poole Road at Valentine Road, and this rat run just fills me with absolute terror that at some point a kid is going to get involved in something really nasty.”

Larissa described an incident she and her children saw in November 2022, in which a red car was flipped on its side at the junction.

She said: “You just think – if someone had actually been crossing the road or had been on that bit of pavement at that moment, what would have happened?”

“Now that I am less involved with my children walking to and from school, you end up thinking 'are they going to be seen when they cross the street?' It’s a nightmare.”

A car overturned in Poole Road in November 2022 (Image: Supplied)

Larissa is urging Hackney Council to act before someone is seriously injured.

She added that it appeared existing low traffic neighbourhoods in nearby Frampton Park and Homerton were pushing traffic into Poole Road and Valentine Road.

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“There’s been a lot in recent years to encourage the low traffic neighbourhoods and that’s been fantastic for the areas that have got them,” she said.

“But because they haven’t resolved the rat run issue in Poole Road, it’s actually led to an increase of traffic up that road, which is horrible.”

Anna added that people living in the two roads would now like to see speed cameras installed, or the introduction of a low-traffic neighbourhood to block off the rat runs.

Hackney Council did not respond to a request for comment.