I dont hate pedestrians as such, spending a lot of my time as one, I would have to have very low self esteem to do so. I do however have a dislike for people, inc pedestrians, who believe everything should be catered for around them. And whatever they do, they are in the right.
Thats not a pop at you by the way, just a generalisation about such types.
People flooding off the trains at night have a very "you will stop for me" godlike attitude towards traffic. And with these people in mind, I dont see why tens of thousands of pounds of tax payers money, or ever a developers money should be spent on catering for them with either closing a road forever for them, or building idiot proof crossings.
If some of these people had any awareness, accident rates would be lower.
Question, what causes the accident. The pedestrain walking out infront of the car suddenly, or the driver being unable to stop up to and over 2 tons of mechanical car in 3ft dead?
Driver has responsibility, pedestrian accountability. But the car will usually be blamed none the less.
We spend years teaching children to cross the road, then reach adulthood and just flood across like a flock of sheep! Mindless.
Aaaah that stretch of HR Road. Having lived on Tyson road for 4-5 years I know it well. However would still not call it a comparison as such, as there is no train station which suddenly increases pedestrian flow x100. Also one of the paths is further from the roadway, and in addtion to that I dont think from memory the footpath is 2 metres. But road width vs speed however I can see your point.
Differences are though PV will have 2 sharp bends in it, which cars have to reduce speed for before entering the straight section. Which would reduce the speed they can carry through the crossing area.
But that said, you have given me an idea.... traffic calming chicanes.
I wonder if these would be possible. Placing them just before the corners, utilising the island nearest The Foresters. Does that make sense. Then the speed into the straight would be reduced, but the flow of the traffic not.
Re the North Ramp, I can see your point on that one, however we all know what TfL are like. And getting an answer from them before the action has been taken is like expecting honesty from a government.
The call for a crossing is a valid one, however with the lack of money and space for one, the cheaper option is unobstructed vision, and this is the hard part... A little commom sense from the people crossing the road. Drivers do also need to be a little more cautious, but as I have said earlier, maybe chicanes would help this approach speed. And the straight road will help pedestrians see further to make sure the road is clear.
Haha how the heck did I harden your position on islands. I have seen a number of cars hit these higher islands over the years, and I have to say, unless its a very low speed, the car will still sadly travel quite a long way over the island, still causing injury. You do of course have to factor in these can also be struck whilst avoiding a pedestrian running out into the road, so for a driver to be killed avoiding a pedestrian, is also unacceptable.
There will never be a perfect harmony between road users and pedestrians. However while the motorist is constantly reminded, summonsed and convicted of wrong doing, UK law sadly fails to identify any pedestrian wrong doing. So I would go right back to a comment made by CAW I think re the odds being stacked against the motorist, and things going in favour of the pedestrian. While not strictly 100% the case, constant demands that the ROADS should be made safer for pedestrians, just strengthens that case.
Right I have to be getting on, but thank you for expressing your viewpoint on the subject. Im sure somewhere in between our views, and those of many others, there is a compromise that suits us all.