west end letters: geared | motorists | pedestrians

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 9 January 2009

Our city is geared towards motorists, not pedestrians

• IT would be interesting to know if it is a breach of our human rights when local councils refuse to provide members of the walking public with adequate pedestrian crossings.
After all, pedestrians, cyclists and animals use the highway by right, but motorists and vehicles use it by licence.
At present, new crossings are installed only where there have been four deaths or eight injuries.
Crossings are often refused if they are considered likely to slow down the traffic.
In some places, traffic speeds are now so high that a new crossing is thought to be just too hazardous. And so it goes on.
What about driving being a privilege, not a right? What about drivers taking responsibility for their actions and the consequence of those actions?
Yet many places nowadays are geared towards speeding up the traffic rather than enabling vulnerable pedestrians to safely get across local roads.
In Kensington we are obliged to walk through moving traffic in Camden Hill Road and Wrights Road because the local council has refused to provide satisfactory crossings.
In Westminster, crossing places are much needed for St Mary’s Hospital and for Fernhead Road, but again they have been denied.
And the “death trap” at the junction of Harrow Road with Kilburn Lane and Ladbroke Grove is still awaiting a “green man” crossing despite local people submitting a 600-signature petition.
You get the impression that vehicles rule the roost and that pedestrians are expected just to blend into the background.
Antony Porter
Ashmore Road, W9

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld.
Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number.
Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment: