Winchelsea has seen a serious collision involving a car and a motorcycle. The incident happened at about midday on Sunday (August 6) in Monks Walk, near the public toilets and layby. The motorcyclist, a 21-year old man from Rye, suffered serious injuries and was flown to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, where he is understood to be in a critical but stable condition. His pillion passenger, a 21-year old woman from Hastings, was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton with serious leg injuries. The driver of the car, a 79-year old man from Hastings, was uninjured. Police are appealing for witnesses.
A spokesman for Winchelsea Speed Watch noted that Monks Walk is one of the two most dangerous stretches of road in the village. He said: “This long straight stretch of road is where vehicles start to speed up as they leave Winchelsea, meeting speeding traffic coming into the village. Some idiots even overtake here. It is very deceptive. There is a rise in the road that obscures the sightline into the village and hides the first junction. The road also passes the layby next to the public toilets from which other vehicles are pulling out. There have been many near misses. Winchelsea Speed Watch have been trying to persuade East Sussex County Council to agree to traffic-calming along Monks Walk but, with no serious accidents before this week, there has been little interest, even on the basis of us securing our own funding. There just don’t appear enough staff at the County Council to process proposals.”
Winchelsea Speed Watch has contacted Cllr Keith Glazier to ask for greater priority to be given to traffic-calming on Monks Walk in view of the latest accident.
After the accident, the road was closed for several hours while police investigated the cause of the collision. Residents reported angry responses and aggressive driving from some drivers forced to make a short diversion.
Photo: Robert Holland