Letter to Borough Transport Officers regarding design of zebra crossings on the A50 - Kingsway South
PH Owens
Dear John, I am writing concerning the design of the recently installed zebra crossings on the A50 - Kingsway South, and the danger these pose to cyclists. The problem is the width of the carriageway between the kerb and the central islands. The gap is about 3½m which is too narrow for a car to safely overtake a cyclist, but not narrow enough to deter most motorists from attempting to do so. The problem is particularly severe in this situation due to there being two crossings in quick succession. Even motorists sufficiently patient to follow a cyclist through the first narrowing tend to try to overtake between the crossings and end up squeezing past the cyclist at the second crossing. While we are fully in support of the provision of pedestrian crossings at this location these should be re-designed so as not to compromise the safety of other road users. We would recommend widening the central island so as to reduce the carriageway width to 3.0m in line with recommendation 7.6.4 of "Cycle Friendly Infrastructure - Guidelines for Planning and Control". This would deter most motorists from attempting to overtake and have the added safety benefit of slowing down traffic approaching the crossings. Alternatively the islands should be narrowed or removed to achieve a lane width of at least 4.5m which would permit safe overtaking. I would be grateful if you could send me a copy of the safety audit for this scheme. Yours sincerely
Pete Owens
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