LIT CROSSINGS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 76, 31 March 1939, Page 16

LIT CROSSINGS

NEEDED FOR SAFETY

ZONES AND ISLANDS

RULES OF RIGHT OF WAY

One of the main subjects upon the order paper of the Road Safety Council yesterday was that of pedestrian crossings and safety zones and islands. The committee which had had this question under consideration recommended that all crossings should be lit and so marked as to be clearly visible undei all conditions at a distance of at least 100 feet.

In a note to this recommendation the committee remarked that in a number ol cases lighting would mean increased cost, but the departmental view was tnat a great deal more investigation and care should be put into the selection of locations for pedestrian crossings than had been evidenced generally in the past. Tht main points to be considered in connection with the provision of a crossing were the volume and nature of the conflicting lines oi vehicular and pedestrian traffic. One of the purposes of authorised crossings was to concentrate the pedestrian cross traffic and eliminate as far as possible the crossing of the street at haphazard pdints, but where the amount of vehicular traffic was small, as was generally the case in residential areas, crossings would not usually be warranted, and if the volume of pedestrian traffic was not great, crossings shou d not be put down. Crossings should nevertheless be provided at all locations near schools where a busy road was crossed regularly by numbers of children. CROSSINGS ESSENTIAL. j "The experience already gained indicates that on heavy traffic city streets authorised crossings are es-j sential. It is felt that well-lighted crossings, well and suitably< located, j will prove to be an important factor in reducing accidents to pedestrians," the committee stated. The provision of pedestrian safety zones and tram passenger loading islands was recommended where their use was dictated by such factors as density and speed of vehicular traffic, density of pedestrian traffic, width of roadway, complexity of intersection, and accident frequency, but no pedestrian island should be established where there would be less than 20ft lof roadway between the island /and the kerb of the footpath. Pedestrian islands might be either raised islands or areas marked on the roadway and should be marked by standards with black and white bands and studded with reflectors and flood-lit at night.

The recommendations were approved by the council. ( Mention was made of the increasing variety of road markings used by various local authorities to indicate particular conditions—wavy lines, double lines, crosses, and so on—and a recommendation was made that a uniform system of such markings should be indicated by the Transport Department for submission to local authorities.