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A dental surgery in Palmers Green has been forced to suspend operations after a collision yesterday evening between two drivers resulting in a car crashing into the building.

car after collision with n13 dental practice 2

N13 Dental Practice is located at the corner of Powys Lane and Bowes Road/North Circular Road.

Palmers Green Community was this morning contacted from the practice by Dr Pegah Ziahosseini, with the following message:

Last night a white Audi plunged into the wall of our practice. We had to drive to practice in midnight to assess the damage. Unfortunately we have severe damage to the practice property and items which makes us unable to carry on working.

Accident in the corner of Powys lane and Bowes Road is not an unusual scene. Unfortunately there is no working camera around the area, no speed limit and the junction has become more dangerous by dangerous driving.

The Enfield Independent website has more detail about the incident:

A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said: “Firefighters were called to a road traffic collision on Bowes Road in Southgate.

"Two cars were in collision with each other, with one of the vehicles also striking a building. A woman was treated on scene by London Ambulance Service.

"The brigade was called at 11.05pm and the incident was over for firefighters at 11.26pm. Two fire engines and one fire and rescue unit from Southgate, Finchley and Edmonton Fire Station attended the scene.”

Source: Enfield Independent

The same report quotes Dr Ziahosseini as saying that she was launching a campaign to make the area safer, claiming the crossing is "very unsafe for cars".

"Damage happens but what would have happened if a pedestrian was walking there when it happened?"

There is also footage on Twitter, uploaded by @Ediz1975, filmed at the time the fire brigade attended the crash scene.

Links

Car smashes into Palmers Green dental practice (Enfield Dispatch 22 May 2024)

N13 Dental Clinic in Palmers Green driven into in car crash (Enfield Independent 22 May 2024)

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Basil Clarke posted a reply
22 May 2024 20:20
"What would have happened if a pedestrian had been walking there at the time of the collision?"

Good question. Clearly, at least one of the drivers was seriously at fault here, but lives to drive another day. A pedestrian hit by one of these cars, judging from the damage done to the building, would have no chance.

This is a horrible junction for pedestrians, especially if trying to cross the North Circular. You're stuck there for what seems like an eternity, with vehicles passing at high speed and in close proximity - and further along, at the Green Lanes, junction, it's even worse. The speed limit should be 20mph at these two junctions. It would only take a small mistake by a driver for a car or lorry to hit the crowd of pedestrians stuck in the middle of the road waiting to cross. At reduced speeds the likelihood of a crash would be reduced and the consequences would be less drastic. If 20mph equates to a "war on motorists", then so be it, because what we have at the moment is a war on pedestrians.
Basil Clarke posted a reply
12 Jun 2024 20:28
The Enfield Independent reports that the dentist whosesurgery was damaged when a driver lost control is blaming "confusing" traffic lights. He thinks the pedestrian crossing shouldn't be there as it is "unsafe" (a type of victim blaming - the problem isn't with the pedestrians, it's some drivers who are unsafe).

According to the report, despite two previous serious crashes since 2021 TfL aren't planning improvements because there are other junctions with worse safety records.

TfL are "offering to meet the community". An offer that we need to take up!
Neil Littman posted a reply
13 Jun 2024 15:20
Very difficult to comment properly on this post without a detailed description of precisely what happened if it ever does get reported elsewhere after the police have published their findings. I have been across that junction many times from the direction of Brownlow Road or Powys Lane going straight across but only turned right twice from the A406 into Powys and despite the short timing of the lights no more dangerous that many other junctions along that road.
Darren Edgar posted a reply
17 Jun 2024 10:46
what more information do you need? What information could justify a driver running off the road this way (I can only think of medical emergency but that would have been flagged by now if the case)?
Darren Edgar posted a reply
17 Jun 2024 10:48
Agreed, Basil. I remember first reading about it thinking the dentists comments had the whiff of victim blaming and you are right to raise this again. Standard response of if in doubt, find any way to absolve the driver from blame....

There is nothing wrong with those lights. I've used them countless times, in all directions, as a driver a cyclist and a pedestrian.
Basil Clarke wrote (message 7155) :

The Enfield Independent reports that the dentist whosesurgery was damaged when a driver lost control is blaming "confusing" traffic lights. He thinks the pedestrian crossing shouldn't be there as it is "unsafe" (a type of victim blaming - the problem isn't with the pedestrians, it's some drivers who are unsafe).

According to the report, despite two previous serious crashes since 2021 TfL aren't planning improvements because there are other junctions with worse safety records.

TfL are "offering to meet the community". An offer that we need to take up!

PGC Webmaster posted a reply
27 Aug 2024 22:52
A new press report about the incident in May where a driver crashed his car into a dental surgery on the corner of Bowes Road and Powys Lane quotes the practice manager as being critical of Transport for London for assigning low priority to improving the junction.

"The main issue, [the dental practice manager] claims, is faulty traffic signalling. As Mahmood explained, drivers going towards Barnet and trying to turn into Powys Lane are often confused as traffic lights turn green for them and those coming from the opposite side, but they may not know about it.

"There is also a bus lane, where a bus at a red light may obstruct the view for turning cars. He says this is how the collision that caused the damage to his clinic happened."


Not sure I follow what he's saying. Drivers turning right into Powys Lane are surprised to find that the lights are green for eastbound North Circular traffic. Why is that surprising?

The bus lane he refers to is presumably the right turn lane from the North Circ eastbound into Brownlow Road, which has its own filter light.

Read the Enfield Dispatch report.
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