A CYCLIST suffered serious injuries in a collision with a car at one of Bournemouth’s controversial ‘shared space’ junctions.

She collided with a silver Mazda 6 as she cycled across the crossroads at Horseshoe Common.

Witnesses said the woman was cycling along Old Christchurch Road towards the town centre when the car emerged from Fir Vale Road and the collision took place.

She was hurled into the air before landing on the road, which was being used by cars, buses, trucks and refuse lorries at the time.

Three police cars and two ambulances were at the scene as the woman was delicately placed on a board and put into the back of an ambulance by paramedics. Traffic was diverted around the scene.

The accident took place at 12.30pm.

Police described the cyclist’s injuries as serious, but not life-threatening. The occupants of the Mazda, registered to a man from Warwickshire, were not injured.

Members of the public said they were not surprised the collision took place and described the junction as “an accident waiting to happen.”

June Arnold, who lives nearby, said: “I am not surprised by this at all. Ever since the road has been set up like this, nobody knows where to drive or where to cross. It’s crazy, I knew it was only a matter of time.”

And another man, who did not wish to be named, added: “It is sheer folly. People come whizzing through here at 40mph and no one knows who should be going where. Someone will be killed here if they don’t change it.”

Similar road schemes have been introduced at Boscombe and Sea View in Poole and there are plans for another at The Lansdowne in Bournemouth.

An action group has been set up in Poole in a bid to have the layout at Sea View reverted to its previous state.

Two people were killed at the weekend when a bus crashed into a supermarket while being driven in a ‘shared space’ in Coventry.