A PLANNING NOTICE from the East Riding Council in St Augustine’s Gate indicates that a new Zebra Crossing is to be installed at St Augustine’s Gate between Hedon Library and Rhythm & Booze.
This will be the second road safety scheme installed on this stretch of road. The Souttergate road narrowing scheme implemented in December 2011 at the other end of Market Place has been criticised by many residents.
Graeme,in reply to your question about a crossing near to Farrand Road or Shields Road, we did ask I think in 2010, ERYC conducted a survey and my information is they said that not enough people crossed the road. I agree with John (D), if enough people asked, try a letter signed by all those that want a crossing.
Hedon Town Council have asked for a sign that flashes showing the speed of a vehicle,to be positioned between Farrand Road and Westlands Estate entrance, but that will be coming into Hedon not Preston South.
John (Brown). Thanks for your feedback. I think what will happen – presuming the panel approves the crossing – is that it will be installed and then its effectiveness should be monitored over a few months. At this stage further nibs or outbuilds are not under discussion, nor is a reduction in the speed limit, and I don’t think ERYC would thank us for bringing these up at this late stage.
However if there is still a problem, we can always go back for a second bite!
JD
Graham. It’s not an allocation thing, but more like if enough people ask, the Local Authority might consider installing a crossing of one type or another.
If you can get a few people who cross the road there to put their names to a letter requesting consideration of installing a crossing, I’ll put it into the system.
They do however get lots and lots of requests from all over the County, (there’s one being proposed for Main Road Thorngumbald right now), and they are quite expensive to install, but it must be worth a try.
Let me know what you think. Phone me on 899214 (home) or 897129 (office) or email me. john@johnpdennis.karoo.co.uk
John
How are zebra crossings allocate?. We could do with one to cross Hull Road near to Shields Road. There are a large number of children who have to cross the road there from the Broadacres estate to get to school and there is a total failure to police the 30mph limit on Hull Road. The little traffic island often gets full with children and parents, no-one gives way, and that combined with the speed of the traffic makes it an accident waiting to happen.
Carol, John, Andrew. Your comments noted regarding the proposed new pedestrian crossing and the road narrowing outside Dove House shop
The pedestrian crossing – Zebra style with 2 Belisha Beacons – was one of several ideas discussed recently and after much deliberation by Hedon and ERYC, was decided upon as the best option to try and sort out the problem that many people had reported, especially older or infirm residents, of having trouble getting drivers to slow down and allow them to cross safely. Obviously we can’t expect several crossings, and even two, one at either end of the square might have cost more than the budget allowed for in these austere times!
Andrew thinks the crossing would be in breach of safety rules. All I can say is that the ERYC engineers have checked all aspects and it complies with regs. There is another, similarly placed, crossing very close to the corner of Sheriff Highway and New Road?
In respect of Carol’s comment, the narrowing of the road and the installation of the bollard opposite the King’s Head were carried out because people had complained that trucks were coming round there from the direction of the church and wheels were running over the pavement – dangerous to wheelchair and push chair users and damaging the kerbs and possibly services beneath..
As I understand it, the decision will finally be made by an ERYC panel and one hurdle yet to be overcome is the Conservation Officer’s objection that the crossing would be visually unacceptable in such a prominent location in the heart of the town. A valid point maybe, but the decision will have to be made and whether the safety of pedestrians overides conservation issues will soon be known.
I hope this is useful. If you want to make any comments either in favour of, or against the proposal I think you have a few days left to do so.
John Dennis (S.W.Holderness Ward Member and Hedon Town Councillor)
Thank you John for the background information.
The out-build opposite the library encourages poeple to congregate and cross there. The tongue-in-cheek conclusion to my recent posting masks the dilemma councillors face in balancing what we have with we what they think we need. I do think additional out-builds will relieve the pressure from the proposed new crossing area and will be a lot less intrusive. These could be backed up with a further reduction of the speed limit in St Augustine’s Gate if deemed necessary.
as far as I know, the crossing is in breech of road safety, as its less than 50 yds from the junction.
Ive been walking along this road and seen far too many near misses, only the other day I was driving along and a lady walked straight out on the crossing without looking if cars were coming, the car in front of me had to break very sharply, fortunately i was paying attention or I would have gone into the back of him
Being a resident living in the Market Place I witness many near misses every day. Pedestrians & vehicles don’t safely mix.
I am not convinced that you could encourage a driver who had legitimately parked outside “Occaisions” and wishing to visit the Co-op or Boots to traipse down to the Wine shop to cross and then return via the same route.
All vehicles have occupants which immediately become pedestrians when they get out. They then mix with the rest of the shoppers needing to be at all shops on either side of the road.
Another point arises when the motorist, on his cicuitus route to the west side of the Market Place has to somehow navigate past motorists egressing George Street and peering intently to the left to see that the way is clear to pull out. Is another yet another crossing going to be needed to enable people to safely cross here?
Crossings facilitate pedestrians to cross safely but only if they can be coaxed to use them. From my frequent observations pedestrians are prone to take the shortest route even if it means leaping to avoid unwanted contact with a vehicle whose driver has failed to see them
You could put many crossings across St Augustines Gate and the Market Place but you would not solve the problem of crossing the road with vehicles double or treble parked reversing out of spaces that have restricted rear access due to vehicles parked illegally in the bus stop and beyond.
The ONLY solution to the problem is either:- Ban all vehicles and pedestrianize the whole Street, Ban all pedestrians and close all the shops
or employ suitably authorised wardens to chastise errant motorists AND pedestrians and bring some sanity to the situation.
i think the crossing is a good idea although i do think there should be a second crossing further up aswell from outside the Greenprint across to the Boots chemist. This will combat all speeders, drivers do use this stretch of road fast i witness near misses everyday. As for the road narrowing……… complete waste of money what did it actually achieve?