Boris Johnson has pledged to install a new traffic light system and put in new measures to tackle dangerous driving at a Newbury Park accident blackspot.

The Mayor outlined the plans on Wenesday (13) after Havering and Redbridge assembly member Roger Evans brought up the issue at Mayor’s Question Time.

Mr Johnson said: “The new traffic light system will be in place by October 2013 but we will put other measures in place in the meantime.”

The junction by Newbury Park tube station is notorious for drivers performing u-turns – a common problem along the A12.

In January 2011, 69-year-old lollipop man Dusan Danilovic died after a four-car pile-up caused by drivers turning at the junction.

Two accidents happened on the stretch of road on the same morning last month when two cars collided outside Newbury Park station and a woman was hospitalised after an accident involving three cars by the Redbridge roundabout.

Mr Evans welcomed the new traffic light system but said the problem was larger than the Newbury Park junction alone.

He said: “Hopefully that will be an improvement at the junction but I don’t think it’s just about that.

“People will just go down the road to do u-turns, you need to stop drivers doing it in the first place.”

The Conservative assembly member thinks harsh penalties should be enforced to discourage illegal manoeuvres.

He said: “People should lose their licence for that sort of thing.

“It’s dangerous driving and it can be prosecuted quite seriously if the authorities chose to do so.”

Aldborough councillor Ruth Clark joined Mr Evans in calls for action last month.

She said: “It’s fabulous news. There have been too many accidents and for the problem to be left and left wasn’t good enough.

“If people move down the road then we will look at that but at least they are doing something.”

Mr Johnson said he has asked Transport for London to look into “short-term measures” at the junction to prevent accidents until the lights are changed.