My child was practically killed by Low Traffic Neighbourhood chaos – it was completely terrifying and extra incidents like this can occur

A five-month-old baby was nearly crushed after a Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme forced busy traffic outside a school.

Jemimah Johnson, 39, was walking her children to school when a driver pulled up onto the pavement and began to crush her five-month old’s pram into a bush.

She said: ‘I remember banging on the window and screaming “you’re hurting my baby” and my two other children were shaking and really scared.

‘Other drivers rushed to help me and make sure we were ok – I’m very grateful for that.

‘It was terrifying and I cannot bear to imagine what might have happened if the driver didn’t stop.

‘The driver didn’t apologise or check if we were okay – I don’t know how someone could be so evil.’

The mother of three said she was ‘really concerned’ about a new road closure nearby, designed to reduce traffic, because it had forced more cars onto the roads around the school in Southampton, Hants. 

She added: ‘When I got to school and reported the incident to police, I burst into tears.

Planters blocking a road for cars in a low traffic neighbourhood (LTN)

 LTNs were widely rolled out during theCovid-19 pandemic

‘I’m really concerned about this new amount of traffic as a result of the Portswood Road closure.

‘So many of the children at the school walk and cycle and we don’t even have a lollipop lady.

‘I think we are only going to see incidents like this increase.’

Last month, a bus gate was installed on the busy Portswood Road nearby with a section of the road restricted to buses, bikes and authorised vehicles only between 7am and 10am and 4pm to 7pm Monday to Saturday.

From Monday, February 10, drivers will be handed a £70 fine for ignoring the restriction.

The scheme has already attracted a lot of controversy with drivers criticising the lack of communication from the council about the introduction of the scheme.

Councillor Eamonn Keogh, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport said: ‘I can only imagine how distressing this was as it unfolded.

‘Drivers need to remain calm and be attentive after an incident and focus on making sure people nearby are safe.

‘When parking, even after a crash, drivers should not be driving on the pavement to park or across a dropped kerb for a pedestrian crossing.’