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Crossing confusion is the naked truth
8:16am Thursday 2nd October 2008
Comments (22)
IT is a bizarre scheme to encourage motorists to drive more carefully along a city centre street – by confusing them!
Safety bosses have turned their back on clear signs, reduced speed limits and speed cameras in favour of a system dubbed “naked roads”.
They believe the best way to make motorists drive safely along London Road in Southampton is to baffle them.
There is no formal zebra or pelican crossing where pedestrians have the right of way.
Instead, white lines and other road markings have been removed and three vague crossing points installed.
The theory, part of a £1.5m development for the road, is that walkers will hover on the edge of the pavement, forcing drivers to slow down in case they step out.
One motoring organisation called the idea a recipe for disaster as there are several pubs and one of the city’s busiest nightlife zones nearby.
A council spokesman confirmed that it was a deliberate policy to try to confuse drivers.
He said: “By creating uncertainty all road users are forced to pay attention and interact with each other.
“Because drivers will be aware that a pedestrian could step out from any one of the informal crossing points they will have to drive more carefully and reduce their speed. This method has been successful across Europe.”
But Brian Gregory, chairman of the Association of British Drivers, said: “I have grave reservations about this scheme and how it would work at night in an area with bars.
“I foresee situations where drunk people will wander off these crossings and be hit by a car.
This is a recipe for disaster. With a lit crossing everyone knows who has right of way, with this system there is too much room for misinterpretation.
“This is more dangerous than having no crossings at all and I wouldn’t like to be the local authority when all the lawsuits start coming in.”
Andrew Howard, head of road safety at the Hampshire-based AA, said this new system could work in some places but would need monitoring.
He said: “The idea of confusing motorists isn’t new but you have to be careful where you put them.
If you put them on a busy main road I would think you were mad, if you put them in an area with a load of shops where nobody would pick up speed anyway I would think you were less mad.
“This system could work but these things must be constantly monitored and reviewed and changed if they don’t work.
“I would hope the authority would have considered factors like pubs and night usage.”
Your Say YourDaily Echo
obelisker, Southampton says...
9:02am Thu 2 Oct 08
Andy Locks Heath, says...
9:10am Thu 2 Oct 08
Lone Ranger, Southampton says...
9:10am Thu 2 Oct 08
Well does he think that a drunk takes any notice of a crossing anyway. Its bad enough with the ones that are sober. As there is going to be this plan to " Baffle " both motorists and pedestrians will it be possible to drive along the pavements in your car and use the excuse that " I was baffled "
So, well done Safety Bosses another case of "thinking outside the box". Lets hope that as a result someone doesn't end up inside one.
Chas49, Southhampton says...
9:41am Thu 2 Oct 08
How is the Portsmouth system working? i havn't been there for some time.
John Fleming, Southampton says...
9:45am Thu 2 Oct 08
"Naked" roads like this scheme have worked well in other parts of Europe but the difference there is that it tends to be whole areas rather than just one road so drivers and other road users get used to the approach. Just doing it in one road that still has markings for bus lanes, give way lines on junctions and traffic lights seems to be only going part of the way and may not lead to the increased safety seen elsewhere.
10 Minute Man, Bitterne says...
10:50am Thu 2 Oct 08
Particularly irritating are those who don't know you can pull into a box junction if you are simply waiting to turn right across the traffic into an empty road. You don't need to sit there at the lights behind the line !
southy, redbridge says...
12:00pm Thu 2 Oct 08
H.R.H. KING MUSH , WOOLSTON says...
12:46pm Thu 2 Oct 08
This has resulted in too many restrictions, Nazi style parking attendants, scumbag clampers plus a bewildering amount of road signs, let alone the fuel rip-offs, congestion charge muggings etc
Drive on most roads and you really have to be on constant guard against numpty drivers, jaywalking idiots and the inevitable drunks or junkies as well as keeping on top of the road signs - especially if in strange areas.
You might be unlucky enough to be overtaken on a busy bridge by some wheely merchant biker at 80mph as he poses for the speed camera which is meant to trap the unwary motorist whe dares to creep a few mph over the limit.
I'm thinking of getting my bike out of the shed but I'm scared to ride on the main road. If I use the pavement (like most cyclists) I might be jumped on by some Third Reich attendant waving a book of fixed penalty tickets.
Again.....we're all doomed......
Tevez888, Southampton says...
3:54pm Thu 2 Oct 08
Point 1: If it confuses drivers on approach and there is no difinitive give way sign, yet somebody (pedestrian) thinks they can just cross and the car will break, then you have a situation where the car behind could hit the car breaking who was doing so to miss the pedestrian!
Point 2: What happens if a Pedestrian walks out believing that they have the ''right of way'' and the car does not slow down and knocks them over?
Who would be to blame?
Point 3: If at night time they had cats eyes running accross like the lay out, to show a ''cross path'' this would limit any accidents in the night.
Point 4: What ever has happened to the good old traffic lights or zebra crossings, surely this would not baffle us drivers who are used to seeing lights/crossings.
Point 5: Why baffle us? We already have idiots doing 80mph towards a speed camera while pulling a wheelie, do you think baffling is the right way?....
Im all against it. One road, one new rule, 1000's of reasons to be against it!
Next you will try bringing back trams.....oh that is happening!
Dr Alimantado, Babylon says...
4:58pm Thu 2 Oct 08
Andy Locks Heath wrote:yeah but everything in Holland works, it is a great country full of people with a completely different mind set to us. This rotting sewer of a country doesn't know how to handle anything vaguely European.
This could be a positive idea. There are clearly far too many signs anyway to be of use when you are on an unfamiliar road, and trials (in Holland?) have been remarkably successful. Agree with Adrian too though. The Lawyer industry will love this!
Watch the drunks get run over...not that it would be a great loss
Fred B, Southampton says...
5:14pm Thu 2 Oct 08
10 Minute Man, Bitterne says...
5:21pm Thu 2 Oct 08
southy wrote:Yes, but just as saying that "the man is the head of the household and his wife will do what she is told" - its takes a brave person to test the theory out.
what alot of drivers dont relize now days is that pedestrians have the right of way in this country,apart from where it say no pedestrians and motorways
seawisedave, EASTLEIGH says...
5:46pm Thu 2 Oct 08
Warsash, Warsash says...
6:17pm Thu 2 Oct 08
downfader, southampton says...
6:41pm Thu 2 Oct 08
Fred B wrote:Looks like they've messed up with the timecode, but it levelled out after a minute.
The video is a lie, if you watch it you can see that the Echo has speeded up the footage to make the cars look fast!! A typical bit of rubbish reporting from a third rate paper.
A point worth remembering under the highway regulations if there is an accident there then there may be some issue as it isnt a legally laid out crossing like a zebra or toucan.
Pedestrians, even though they have priority (no longer right of way since the new HC came out) are going to be at risk. Surely the normal rules of crossing apply here?
sotonbusdriver, Southampton says...
7:19pm Thu 2 Oct 08
If it's a pavement, then vehicles shouldn't be allowed UP london road, and it's ILLEGAL drive on a pavement...
Don't this council understand the basics of the ROAD TRAFFICS ACT??????
paul b, Mottisfont says...
8:56pm Thu 2 Oct 08
If people really find this troublesome they need putting down as they are too thick to contribute anything to society
Jesus christ!
D.a.v.e, Bitterne says...
9:26pm Thu 2 Oct 08
sotonbusdriver wrote:Nothing personal intended, but i will not be taking advice on any "road traffics act" from a bus driver........
If it's a Road,,,, then pedestrians don't have right of way without it being a marked crossing, so if one steps out, and is knocked down, by rights it's the pedestrians FAULT. If it's a pavement, then vehicles shouldn't be allowed UP london road, and it's ILLEGAL drive on a pavement... Don't this council understand the basics of the ROAD TRAFFICS ACT??????
Mr E, Eastleigh says...
10:38am Fri 3 Oct 08
So, How do you feel about you and your'e Children being used as a replacement for a speed hump ?
southy, redbridge says...
11:24am Fri 3 Oct 08
Jerry Parsons, Eling on Sea says...
12:09pm Mon 6 Oct 08
Simon Carr tackles the London Road crossing
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Adrian Smith, Planet Earth says...
8:24am Thu 2 Oct 08
Legal minefield.
Add a style of parking not normally seen in this Country and you have a recipe for trouble.