Pedestrian crossing where wife was run over fails safety experts' tests

A businessman who claims his wife was killed on a pedestrian crossing because it was dangerous has been backed by traffic experts.

Moments after Leo Iravanian dropped his wife Iveta near her office and waved goodbye, she was knocked down by a coach as she walked in front of the fourth and final lane of traffic.

Now, after a three-month fight to prove that his safetyconscious wife had not ignored the lights, he has discovered they failed to meet minimum safety standards.

Experts said the time pedestrians had to cross the road after the green man disappeared was less than half Department for Transport guidelines.

Anyone stepping on the crossing at the end of the green pedestrian phase would have only five seconds to reach safety before the green light for traffic came on.

But the 14.3-metre crossing should have a 12-second safety margin.

Mr Iravanian, 42, had already driven away when his wife was killed. He said: "I will never give up until I get justice for Iveta.

"My wife was very aware of her safety, she would never have gone through a red light.

"I didn't know she had died. She didn't deserve this."

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He and traffic engineers Morgan Tucker fear more crossings could fail to meet the recommended standards, putting other pedestrians in danger.

He added: "I was amazed by what I found out. I'm worried about someone else being killed. We are entitled to know we can cross the road safely."

Hungarian-born Mrs Iravanian, 33, was killed in February near Victoria Station.

To cross the road safely on her way to work, she walked to reach the crossing instead of dodging traffic where her husband had left her.

She was almost at the opposite pavement when she was hit by the National Express coach.

The crossing was a "signalised junction" for pedestrians and traffic, and had no flashing green man phase.

When the green man goes out there is a delay before the traffic light goes green for cars.

Pedestrians must not cross if they see the green man go out but there should be enough time to reach the other side if they are already crossing.

Police told Mr Iravanian, of Golders Green, North London, his wife must have ignored the red man on the traffic light telling pedestrians to wait.

But he refused to believe she would have been reckless. He contacted Transport For London to complain that a twisted signal could confuse pedestrians by showing them a red light meant for cars.

He also spent hours at the scene watching people cross, paid a private detective to find witnesses and hired road safety specialists Morgan Tucker to make an expert assessment of the crossing.

What he found heightened his fears. As well as an inadequate five-second pedestrian safety margin, the gap be-tween the traffic stop line and the crossing was too small.

The minimum gap should be two metres, but Morgan Tucker proved at its narrowest it was 80cm.

They said: "On three occasions pedestrians crossing towards the end of the green man period could not get to the other side of the crossing before the traffic phase had turned green.

"The behaviour of drivers was, in all cases, not to wait for them to complete the crossing but to start moving across."

The firm's Steve Hall said: "There is a potential risk to pedestrian safety. To what extent that contributed to the accident we don't know."

TfL said the crossing complied with old regulations but admitted they did not meet guidelines introduced in 2005.

He said they were among 400 lights being upgraded this year.

But he added: "We will defend any allegation that the timing of these lights was the cause of Mrs Iravanian's death."