Location: Junction of Edinburgh Way and East Road, Harlow, Essex.
Date/Time: 19/08/16 09:26am

I was riding at 30 mph at this point having just come of a roundabout, the speed limit is 40mph. I maintained that speed coming up to the junction until I spotted the pedestrian. There had been a light rain so the roads were damp but the rain had stopped. The light was green but the hedge obscured my view of the couple at first, then I spotted them but the lady hurried out which caused me to choose to brake rather than swerve as I judged she would have reached the max point I could have safely swerved to, however she then slowed to a walk. By then it was already too late to change tactic to dodge, whilst my front wheel had full traction through out braking, the rear must have hit a patch of oil as it lost traction. I maintained control by counter steering right which also allowed me to dodge slightly right. But as all this happened in approximately two seconds I could not avoid enough.

I managed to make a decision and come to a full stop in about 3.5 car lengths on a bike in the wet. According to the braking distances in the highway code it takes a car about that distance in the dry and twice that in the wet. A bike takes longer because it has less contact with the road. I think I did extremely well to minimize and control my side of the situation and stay upright, I wish I had been able to get my thumb on my horn in time to warn her. The police indicated I did everything I could have done and found no fault with what I did or my observations.

In my opinion that hedge should not be there, lighting and push button controls should be in place for pedestrian safety, neither the police nor I realized there were none. For such a busy junction there should be something, the fault partly lies with the local council / road authority to ensure there is something more for pedestrian safety.