Green light for campaigners’ Kilnhurst pelican crossing call

Nearly 1,400 residents backed a petition for the upgrade from a zebra crossing at Victoria Street in Kilnhurst.

Campaigner Steve Straw said: “The cars don’t seem to respond to stopping at the zebra crossing, which has led to a few if not more accidents over the years.

“On the left of the street, there’s a park and a community centre with a nursery. Also on that side is a gymnasium and a couple of local shops.

“On the opposite side, there’s a takeaway, a working men’s club and a bit further down is the school and a park.

“We feel there’s a need to change that crossing. Hopefully, cars will respond to a red light.”

RMBC transport manager Matthew Reynolds confirmed that traffic surveys were already under way when the petitioners made their case to the council's scrutiny meeting.

He said: “The surveys are checking vehicle flows and once we get that information we can decide the best way of going forward.”

The Department for Transport has criteria to decide suitable locations for pelican crossings, including distance to junctions, state of footpaths and speed of vehicles.

Mr Reynolds said that there had been only one accident in five years at the crossing. 

National accident statistics showed no difference between zebra and pelican crossings, he added.

Swinton ward councillor Ken Wyatt said there had been lots of other cases of near misses.

He added: “Speed is not the sole issue. The other is driver behaviour. They see the green light at the end of the straight and possibly focus on that as opposed to who might be waiting to get across the road.”

Scrutiny chairman Cllr Brian Cutts said: “We recommend officers fully investigate the request and report back to the Improving Places Select Committee.”