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The Only Protected Crossing...
…in the one and a half miles from Offington Corner to the Borough boundary is the Pelican at the north end of the shops.
FVS considers it most unreasonable of CH to require elderly residents living south and west in the Valley, and needing to visit the surgery or the pharmacy, to have to walk nearly 400 yards from the Surgery crossing point to the Pelican, and then the same distance back down the other side.
And then to have to make the return journey!
How often have you seen an elderly couple, one in a wheel-chair, one attending, marooned at this bollard, unable to complete the crossing of Findon Road? Meanwhile, and due to the inadequacy of the island as a “refuge”, one or other of them is sticking out into one or both carriageways.
And this applies equally to Mums with pushchairs, sometimes trying to control a three year old at the same time.
It must be a terrifying experience for all those with impaired vision, hearing or mobility to be waiting in the middle of the road with no protection whatsoever merely two, perhaps three feet away from 30-ton lorries with closing speeds of 80 mph, unable to see or hear properly, and knowing that its going to take ten or fifteen seconds at least to reach the safety of the next kerbside.
We know of members who will not walk to the Surgery or Library, but always drive. Not because it’s too far to walk. But because it is too dangerous.
Recently, FVS undertook a census at this crossing point. Conducted over 12 hours (7 a.m. – 7 p.m.) on a Friday and the following Monday, it revealed that over 200 people a day cross at this point between those times.
Head Count: Library/Surgery Findon Road May 2005 Surgery / Library Crossing Findon Road Sep 2005
We passed this intelligence to CH, which has now reacted
officially by running the same exercise. The results have not been released to
us, save to be told that a “higher priority is indicated”
Prior to that, we were told conversationally that they are “looking at”
extending this island longitudinally. Well, that would be of some help, in that
we wouldn’t have wheel and push chairs projecting out into the traffic stream..
But what we want there is a “Puffin”.
(“Puffins” - as opposed to “Pelicans” - sense whether there are pedestrians waiting to cross, or indeed are still crossing. As such, they benefit both pedestrians and traffic flow.)
FVS has also asked for the Pelican to be converted into a Puffin. CH would like to, they say. Budgetary constraints are blamed for the delay in conversion.
Meanwhile, we have succeeded in getting the crossing time at the Pelican extended to the maximum.
Click Here to see current accident data for the A24 Findon Valley for a 3 year period up until 30 June 2005. Please note that the data for 2005 has yet to be reconciled against the Police data, and may be incomplete. File is in pdf format, click here to download Adobe Acrobat.