Calls for pedestrian crossing at Salerie
Thursday 7th May 2009, 2:29PM BST.
PEDESTRIANS need somewhere to cross at Salerie Corner, according to one nearby restaurant owner.
Babis Kalamis, owner of The Rowan Tree on Glategny Esplanade, said customers, many of whom had young families, said it was impossible to cross the busy main road.
‘Every day there is a near miss. It’s only a matter of time before something happens,’ said Mr Kalamis.
Environment Minister Peter Sirett announced at a meeting held by road safety group Living Streets that there was a plan to put an ‘island’ in the middle of the road near the restaurant.
Mr Kalamis (pictured) said a compulsory pedestrian crossing could also work as a deterrent for speeding motorists.
‘You see a stream of people coming out from Salerie Corner car park in the mornings and, unless a car wants to stop, you can be waiting there for some time before you get across. There is a major car park on this main road and you have to give pedestrians the means to cross.
‘It has to be a compulsory crossing. The cars have to stop,’ said Mr Kalamis.
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“You see a stream of people coming out from Salerie Corner car park in the mornings and, unless a car wants to stop, you can be waiting there for some time before you get across”.
Why not use that time to walk to the nearest crossing? If people wish to risk themselves and the lives of their ‘young families’, let them, stupid place to attempt to cross the road!
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Dean: and where exactly is the nearest crossing? Either just past the town roundabout or at admiral park i believe. Although if you know of a closer one then please do correct me.
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which crossing do you suggest Dean?
I do not recall seeing a crossing between Salarie Corner and the roundabout. If you are going into town after parking there, you either take your chances getting on and off the island just before the roundabout, or you cross the roundabout and go past the Liberation Monument to use the crossing opposite the little Checkers. But that is not going to be of any use to anyone wanting to go to one of the businesses on Glategny Esplanade.
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I suppose it is technically correct to call them pedestrians,but aren’t they actually people who just moments ago were car drivers themselves ?
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And the nearest crossing is at the weighbridge because the one before the roundabout is still a courtesy crossing so the people who work in the offices along the esplanade have to go twice as far.
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Dean – the nearest controlled crossing is at the Weighbridge going south or Admiral Park going north. There are similar difficulties crossing opposite the old Royal Hotel – sorry “whatever-it-called house”. The kerb has been lowered and railings put on the central island but the crossing is not controlled. I cross here a lot and it can be difficult even with the central island with people dashing through the gaps in the endless lines of cars going each way. There are controlled crossings at the other two main exits of the roundabout – avenue and weighbridge – so why the Royal Hotel one hasn’t been effectively completed I don’t know.
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I’m not going to suggest a crossing, you are all capable of working that one out.
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we realy dont need a crossing there what a stupid idear ,
will slow traffic to much ,as it is we have traffic lights on a roundabout that also is silly
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I dont see why there would be a requirement for an additional crossing at Salarie Corner? There is already a pedestian island. The majority of people parking on the Salarie park there for the day whilst they are at work and would probably cross at the roundabout or at Admiral Park? This issue was never raised for the previous resturant – How about putting in another crossing right ourside Cellar Door and perhaps another for Victor Hugo Boulangerie and then maybe even another for the Longstore shops? Or maybe people should just learn to cross the road without being wrapped in cotton wool….
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Dean, Apart from the crossing at the weighbridge i’m obviously not capable of working out which crossing you mean!
A crossing at the salary car park would be a great idea and would reduce the number of people who walk in fear of being run down by cyclists on the marina side of the road.
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I recently wrote to the Department of Transport requesting a crossing near to Salarie Corner and was provided the following response:
‘We have investigated a crossing within this region however it was determined that it would cause excessive disruption to traffic.’
So the States does not care about the pedestrian or those with prams and wheelchairs who cannot cross this major road safely.
Rarely do cars now let people cross as politeness has left this small island.
I thought the idea was to reduce the amount of traffic, so wouldn’t a crossing here, which as the department says themselves, ‘will disrupt traffic’, be the perfect idea.
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“fear of being run down by cyclists”
This is ridiculous comment and irrelevant to the crossing issue. If a crossing was implemented then the cyclists would have to move onto the pavement to avoid the waiting area, thus putting more pedestrians lives at risk with their uncompromising speed.
Andrew – a crossing would not ‘reduce traffic’. It’s not going to take more cars off the road is it? What they have tried to explain to you is that having investigated the matter, it does not appear viable to put a crossing there. Please try and differentiate between the words ‘disrupt’ and ‘reduce’.
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“Calls”? Um, I think you’ll find that is singular.
Suggest he becomes a deputy for a couple of years, get a raised crossing in front of your premises and then leave. There is a precedent ;)
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I parked at Salarie corner and had to cross that road every day for a year to get across to one of the offices almost opposite the car park.
To be honest I never really had too much of a problem – most of the time I barely had to wait till some-one waved me across. I had much more of a problem pulling out of the car park when I was driving!
I think if you put a pedestrian crossing in it would cause a much bigger problem for motorists because it would slow traffic down even more during busy times. That will only increase frustration and then potential road rage induced accidents!
I think the idea of putting an island in on the town side of the corner to mirror the other side is the best idea.
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Strange it took the owner of the nearby restaurant to come up with the idea and not the pedestrians who are apparently inconvenienced. I wonder why .
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No need for a crossing here, but a good bit of publicity for the restaurateur. Pedestrians sometimes need to take reponsibility for their own actions, so there would not be any ‘daily near misses’
Spot on Jackie, but I think the west coast crossings were a one-off (or should that be two-off?)
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If you wish to cross the road then just walk across. The onus is on the driver to avoid you. Pedestrians do have the right of way.
When cars were first invented they were both a very unusual sight and difficult to stop. Pedestrians would keep out of their way and stand in awe. Those days have long gone, cars have excellant brakes and pedestrians need to reclaim their rights.
Drivers need to be educated to understand the rights of the pedestrian and be prepared to stop and give way should one step off of the pavement. Drivers should be taught to always slow down in the presence of pedestrians even if they are not showing any sign of wishing to cross the road. Should anyone reading this disagree then please consider the following. Everyone who has ever killed a pedestrian has had this thought, ‘if only I wasn’t going so fast’ or ‘if I had been going slower’ etc.
One final point, for everyone, but particularly for people that may disagree with the above; not everyone drives a car, but every car driver is a pedestrian. And remember if you do drive a car you should be doing the driving, not your ego.
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Quote Steven “If you wish to cross the road then just walk across. The onus is on the driver to avoid you. Pedestrians do have the right of way.”
Hmmm….very interesting perspective Steven however I wonder how many of us are prepared to put this to the test. I’m not sure whether the person being scraped off the road will be in any position to quote his/her rights. I don’t know about you but personally I’d rather be in one piece than take the chance of being physically capable of quoting my rights to the driver who has just run me over! :-)
“Those days have long gone, cars have excellant brakes and pedestrians need to reclaim their rights.”
Very inspiring however a car’s brakes are only as good as the driver behind the wheel. Also, I’m not too sure I’m prepared to put my life on the line for a crusade to reclaim my rights to step out in front of a moving vehicle. I’m happy to find a pedestrian crossing…
Rights don’t protect anyone from harm – it’s a modern day myth that they do. In this case, all your rights give you is the opportunity to prosecute the driver, if you survive that is…
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Steven – I was hit by a car about a year ago. I was crossing the road at a junction, the lights had just turned red yet the driver had tried to beat them. I’m quite sure you’re right in that they were thinking “If only I hadn’t been going so fast!!” but, for your info, as I was being scraped along the road pinned beneath the car, I didn’t have that smug feeling of satisfaction from knowing that it was my right of way.
Just a thought.
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Steven
If your 3.10 am post was intended to draw a reaction … here’s mine now that I have taken a few minutes to calm down.
If there is a first prize for the most ridiculous post of the year then this has to be it. I must stop now because I’m building up steam again.
I presume the offence of jay walking means nothing to you ?
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Ray you said, “I presume the offence of jay walking means nothing to you ?”
I’m glad you brought this up and, on the contrary, the offence of jay-walking is very relevant to my point.
Jay walking is the offence of crossing a road outside of a designated crossing area where such an area exists.
There is a misconception that a designated crossing is for the pedestrians convenience, it isn’t, it is for drivers convenience and limits the pedestrians right to cross the road to that one area.
Student Bob, I hope you sued the driver for his inconsiderate driving and that the driver lost his no claims bonus and was prosecuted for careless driving.
Paul le P. I didn’t say it was safe, my point is that it should be. The speed limit from the roundabout to La Salerie corner would best be twenty five mph. Also it is fairly well known that one needs to be exceeding the speed limit by at least 15 mph before a licence suspension is given by the courts. I would suggest that heavy fines be meted out to drivers that exceed the speed limit at all when the offence is commited whilst travelling towards pedestrians even when the pedestrian is walking along the pavement. The courts, by adopting this measure, would reinforce to drivers the importance of considering pedestrians.
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Ray – I agree that Steven’s post is ridiculous and agree with the others that rights are of no use if you’re dead.
However, as far as I know jay walking is not an offence here.
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TL and Ray. I beg to differ, my post wasn’t rediculous. What is rediculous is the speed drivers drive at in the presence of pedestrians also the belief that a car drivers rights on the road are above those of the pedestrian.
Which came first the pedestrian or the motorist. There is a very good reason for pedestrians not being allowed on a motorway, primarily they were made for vehicles. Whereas nearly every roadway in Guernsey was preformed by pedestrians and as far as i’m aware have never given up their right to free passage on them.
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yes, pedestrians came first, and yes drivers should take greater care near pedestrians.
there have been trials in the UK (following examples in Denmark) of removing things like crossings, lights, railings, etc to make roads and pavements a bit more of a free-for-all – the drivers feel more nervous as they never know where the pedestrians are going to come from, and they reduce their speed as a result.
To that extent your post made good observations. But you were also advocating that pedestrians just step into the road and expect drivers to stop – which is the bit that doesn’t really fit in the real world.
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Steven
There were a couple of Court cases within the last twelve months that seem to shoot down your thesis.
One concerned a driver who knocked down a jogger in full running kit who ran straight out onto a St Martins pedestrian crossing without looking. The driver was found not guilty of driving without due care.
The second was about a moron who was thrown off a bus for refusing to stop eating chips. I believe he then threw the chips at the bus and then walked slowly in front of it for quite some distance. He was found guilty of all sorts of things including,if I remember correctly, obstructing the free passage of the bus ( our term for jaywalking )
I’ve lost quite a bit of sleep over your original post.Last night I had a nightmare in which I was walking along the pavement deep in thought about why you would post such rubbish. I stepped out into the road right in front of a lorry…… and then it hit me….
YOU MUST BE FROM SARK !
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“Everyone who has ever killed a pedestrian has had this thought, ‘if only I wasn’t going so fast’”
They might equally think, why did that idiot run out in front of me. He must be a friend of Stephens who thinks it is ok. And who do I sue?
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First off it seems a fairly decent idea to have a pedestrian crossing it that area. As the nearest ones are Admiral Park or St Julians Avenue…. Along that road you have homes, offices and restaurants… Even Making the “pedestrian” crossing opposite the Royal a proper pedestrian crossing where cars do have too slow down and you don’t need to attempt to cross 2 lanes of traffic without having to worry about about some “kev” knocking you down.
TL:- I don’t think it matters if your a pedestrian/cyclist has good or bad road manners some drivers don’t give a damm… As I found on many occasions when walking/cycling too and from work.
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There probably should be a crossing but not one that holds the traffic up.
That would be really stupid.
An underpass is the answer. Probably a few along the front. Safe for Steven and other leg users and a brilliant way to keep Chavs nice and dry during wet evenings.
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