A WOMAN has suffered a serious leg injury after she was hit by a car.

She was rushed to hospital on Monday afternoon after she was hit by the car on Whittingham Avenue, Southend at around 4.20pm.

It was first thought that the driver had failed to stop, but Essex Police confirmed that driver called 999 immediately.

A spokesman for the force, said: “We received reports of a crash between a pedestrian and a car in Whittingham Avenue, Southend, at around 4.20pm yesterday, Monday 10 February.

“A woman was taken to hospital with a serious leg injury and the driver assisted us with our enquiries at the scene.”

Daniel Nelson, a councillor of the Southchurch ward, told the Echo that there was a community police meeting taking place nearby only hours after the crash.

He stated that attendees were told to get there in plenty of time as one end of Whittingham Avenue was closed for several hours.

The ward councillor said: “My heart goes out to her and her family.

“I’m glad it wasn’t worse than it was.

“That road is prone to having cars speeding along it. It’s a through road.

“There’s quite a lot of traffic along there too. There’s usually a constant flow of traffic.

“It’s fortunate that there aren’t a lot of residents that live along there, other than the tower block.”

Whittingham Avenue sits in between the circular loop of Poynings Avenue and Newington Avenue, which joins the busy Hamstel Road.

Mr Nelson explained that the council are looking at introducing more pedestrian crossings around the town, but stated that they need to look into the safety of Whittingham Avenue and installing a crossing on the road. He added: “A lot of children use that park.

“There’s a play area that is popular. You need to cross the road to get to it.

“This is an example of a road that may need a crossing installed.

“The council are looking at installing new crossings alongside building new areas, but perhaps they need to look at the safety of current crossings.

“The crossings need to be in relation to the play areas.”