Cambridge busway speed limit reduced where woman died

The council said there would be a review of the section of busway Kathleen Pitts died on

The speed limit has been halved on a section of a guided busway where a women died when she was hit by a bus.

Kathleen Pitts, 52, was on foot when she was struck on the busway between Cambridge railway station and Long Road just after 18:00 BST on 26 October.

Buses now have a top speed of 15mph (24km/h) on that stretch and a detailed safety review was ongoing.

Peter McDonald, from Cambridgeshire County Council, said: "A lower speed reduces the chances of serious injury."

Ms Pitts was the second person to have died on that stretch of the guided busway since 2018, following the death of cyclist Steve Moir.

The speed limit was previously cut to 30mph (48km/h) on the city-bound track from Long Road bridge to Hills Road bridge, and before that it had been 56mph (90km/h).

Kathleen Pitts was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, police said

Liberal Democrat councillor Mr McDonald said: "We have focused on this southern section of the busway as we want to do all we can to make the busway as safe as possible and it's also the section which has the most amount of pedestrian and cycle use on the maintenance track."

The county council said bus operators had been told about the speed limit and signs would be "installed shortly".

The guided busway runs for 16 miles (26km) between St Ives and Cambridge, and has a track for buses adjacent to a pedestrian pavement and cycleway.