Follow-up: road safety concerns after death of student

Concerns over road safety around Cannon Park are being voiced after the death of Maggie (Ming Tsung) Cheung who was hit by a lorry outside Tesco.

Maggie Cheung suffered from serious head injuries in the crash on Lynchgate Road at 12:45pm on Tuesday 21 January and died a few hours later in hospital.

The 23-year-old postgraduate student from Hong Kong was studying a Master’s degree in Economics.

Police have worked alongside the Chinese Embassy and the University to contact her relatives who have now arrived in the UK.

The University says: “Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this time. A book of condolence will be available shortly.”

Cat Turhan, Students’ Union (SU) welfare and campaigns officer, told the Boar: “The SU is deeply saddened to hear of the death of Maggie Cheung.

“We have been concerned for some time about the dangerous nature of the roads around Cannon Park, and we urge the Council to work with the University to respond by creating a safer crossing system around that area.”

Students have also expressed their concern about crossing the roads around Cannon Park.

Dan Warr, a fourth-year Chemistry student, said: “It’s a common crossing point for hundreds of students every day during term time. They should really think about putting in some form of pedestrian crossing.”

Aakanksha Jaiswal, a first-year Economics and Industrial Organisation undergraduate, commented: “It could have been anyone. I’m from India, and road safety rules here are quite different and many times my friends and I cross the road carelessly.

“Considering how many international students the University has and that the road has hundreds of people crossing it every day, it really should have been made into a pedestrian crossing.”

University staff and support professionals are already in contact with some of the students who were close to Ms Cheung.

The University has stated that there a number of support services available for anyone who would like to speak to someone at this time.

Dr Jonathan Cave, Ms Cheung’s personal tutor in Economics, added: “Maggie greatly impressed me with her clear-sighted enthusiasm and strong academic potential […] She had a large network of friends, and was looking forward to a productive career with eager anticipation.

“She will be sorely missed, not least by her instructors and fellow students.”

The police are urging witnesses or anyone with information to come forward by calling 101.

The original article can be found here.