A YOUNG driver died

in an horrific seafront

crash when his sports

car ploughed into a lamppost.

Witnesses say Paul Smith, 26, lost control as he swerved to avoid a car on the opposite side of the road that was waiting to turn right off the Kingsway in Hove.

His Toyota, heading towards Brighton, hit the post with such speed that it wrapped completely around it and was left facing the other way.

Mr Smith, from Boundary Road, Hove, managed to get out of the car but died soon afterwards from multiple injuries, despite the efforts of passers-by who tried to help him.

This latest seafront tragedy

follows the deaths of sisters

Margaret and Lena Kensett, who were in a car that crashed into another lamppost, outside the Queens Hotel in Brighton+, just over a week ago.

Hayden Jefferies, 26, of Albert Road, Brighton, survived the crash without serious injuries, but Mohamed Hrimile, 35, of Kingsway, Hove, is still critical in intensive care at the Royal

Sussex County Hospital, Brighton.

The two horrific accidents have led to calls for greater safety measures along the coast road.

Cleaner Muna Abdalla, who was in her Renault Laguna waiting to turn right into a side road when the other car approached, recalled her horror at what happened.

She said: "He was coming really fast. As he approached he started flashing his lights. I was just amazed at his speed.

"Then he lost control and went straight into the post. It all happened so quickly.

"It's been a huge shock and it's going to take ages to get over what happened."

The accident happened at 10.30pm on Friday, just as people were arriving at the Boogie Nights nightclub, underneath the Excelsior Hotel. Several left in tears after witnessing the accident, and hotel manager Hassouna Selma bought drinks for the rest to calm their nerves.

He said: "There was a massive bang when it happened.

"I rushed out to see what it was and got the receptionist to call the emergency services.

"It was terrible. Lots of women were crying. There was only about a foot of the car left behind the lamppost. It had curled right round."

The wreckage was removed by the fire brigade just before 1am on Saturday. Since then several wreaths have been placed at the foot of the lamppost.

Mr Selma thinks the recent spate of seafront accidents should serve as a catalyst for greater safety measures.

He said: "It's a really bad road here. Very few people abide by the 30mph speed limit.

"It's like having a motorway in the middle of town. It's an accident waiting to happen.

"The only good thing is that the car didn't speed off on to the promenade at a busy time of

day.

"You get children and

mothers walking along here in the day.

"Something has to be done to improve the safety of the road before another dreadful crash like this."

A police spokesman said: "We are obviously very concerned about the number of fatal road accidents which have occurred in the Brighton area over the last few weeks.

"We will be looking closely at the reports from this latest accident to see if we can learn anything from it."

He added: "It is believed

that the driver of the car who died in the crash was travelling

at excess speed, although we

cannot say what that speed was until the matter has been investigated.

"Speeding is the cause of

most accidents and although Kingsway is a wide road it does have a speed limit which should be adhered to.

"Keeping to speed limits

gives the driver much more chance of avoiding a potential accident."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.