A YOUNG motorcyclist died in an horrific crash and then hours later a 20-year-old woman was in collision with a car – sparking fears about the safety of roads in Crouch End

Charlotte Newton

A YOUNG motorcyclist died in an horrific crash and then hours later a 20-year-old woman was in collision with a car - sparking fears about the safety of roads in Crouch End.

Andrew Johnson, 27, died after hitting a bus shelter on Crouch Hill at 1.50am on Thursday.

Mr Johnson, a maintenance engineer who lived in Haslemere Road, in Crouch End, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said: "We are appealing for witnesses and information following a fatal collision in Crouch Hill junction with Heathville Road." An inquest was opened and adjourned at St Pancras on Tuesday.

Just seven hours after this fatal crash, a woman was in a collision with a car in Crouch End Broadway. She suffered head injuries after being hit by a black Mercedes on the pedestrian crossing opposite T Mobile, in Crouch End Broadway and was taken to the Whittington Hospital by ambulance.

John Krahn, who co-owns the Haelan Centre in the Broadway witnessed the crash - at 9am on Thursday - from a first floor window above his shop.

Mr Krahn, 39, said: "I was just day-dreaming, looking out of the window when a car drove past and then a woman on the pedestrian crossing dropped to the ground.

"I'm surprised there haven't been more accidents there because it is a very dangerous crossing which lots of school children use.

"When I went to see if the woman was all right she had blood coming from the back of her head. She was very shaken and had to be helped up, then she just sat on the pavement crying until the ambulance arrived.

"The windscreen of the Mercedes was also smashed."

A spokeswoman for the London Ambulance Service said: "We were called at approximately 9.05am to The Broadway, in Crouch End, to reports of a road traffic collision involving a car and a pedestrian.

"The patient, a woman in her 20s, was treated at the scene and taken to the Whittington Hospital, suffering from head injuries."

The circumstances that led up to the motorcyclist's death are being investigated by the Colli-sion Investigation Unit at Euston.

Anyone with information about this incident, is asked to call the CIU on 020-7 321 9955 or ring Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

A Transport for London spokeswoman said that between December 2004 and December 2007, there were nine accidents at the Crouch End Broadway/ Tottenham Lane junction. A motorcyclist was seriously injured in one of these crashes.

During this period there were three collisions on Crouch Hill between Haslemere Road and Heathville Road, none of which resulted in serious injury.

broadway@hamhigh.co.uk