Pedestrian hit at B&Q crossing on Lichfield Rd - Tue 29th Nov 2011

[gilesjuk]

Over the years I have noticed that residents in Stafford often cross roads when the ( Pelican ) crossing is on red for padestrains.

I've noticed its generally the one outside of the train station and Sainsburys.

Sainsbury, people crossing tend to run from the side to try and get over.

If the road is clear and you can make it then there's nothing wrong with that. We don't have a jaywalking rule in the UK.

Often I would much sooner nip across and not stop the traffic than press the button. But often there's just so much traffic that it is impossible.

 

[Tumble weed]

Wasn't someone knocked down today or another car incident at the tesco traffic lights earlier, around 1.30 just outside the peugeot garage? the police had stopped the traffic and parked across the road. Couldn't see what was going on as I was already late for college.

 

[gilbert grape]

Wasn't someone knocked down today or another car incident at the tesco traffic lights earlier, around 1.30 just outside the peugeot garage? the police had stopped the traffic and parked across the road. Couldn't see what was going on as I was already late for college.

I wouldnt be surprised in the least if somebody got knocked down.

 

[Gramaisc]

If the road is clear and you can make it then there's nothing wrong with that. We don't have a jaywalking rule in the UK.

Often I would much sooner nip across and not stop the traffic than press the button. But often there's just so much traffic that it is impossible.

The implementation of countdown timers, rather than a simple 'red man' vastly reduces this problem. One day we'll catch up here.

And I frequently see people automatically poke the button and then realise there's nothing coming, so they amble across. A minute later there'll be a queue of cars waiting pointlessly at an empty crossing.

 

[Thehooperman]

If the road is clear and you can make it then there's nothing wrong with that. We don't have a jaywalking rule in the UK.

Often I would much sooner nip across and not stop the traffic than press the button. But often there's just so much traffic that it is impossible.

The implementation of countdown timers, rather than a simple 'red man' vastly reduces this problem. One day we'll catch up here.

And I frequently see people automatically poke the button and then realise there's nothing coming, so they amble across. A minute later there'll be a queue of cars waiting pointlessly at an empty crossing.

Great idea but there are still people crossing before the green man is lit.

 

[United57]

Wasn't someone knocked down today or another car incident at the tesco traffic lights earlier, around 1.30 just outside the peugeot garage? the police had stopped the traffic and parked across the road. Couldn't see what was going on as I was already late for college.

I have seen a lot of people nou using the crossing in that locality. They cross the road further up as it is easier to get to the entrance.

 

[gilesjuk]

Why is a car driver's journey more important than a pedestrian's?

Its not really, but you could argue the car driver has paid to use the road more than a pedestrian has....

Who's to say the pedestrian doesn't own a car?

Anyway it's actually the opposite. The roads are funded through a combination of taxes, money from local government and council taxes.

Someone who doesn't own a car and walks everywhere contributes to the roads but doesn't use them. If you total up all the figures for lost productivity due to congestion, the cost of road deaths and the cost to health of pollution you'll find that people driving are subsidised.

eg:

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/comment/9298335.Motoring_is_subsidised_____and_Churchill_was_right_on_road_tax/

Or: http://www.jake-v.co.uk/content/54.php

To extend the debate beyond "road tax", it is true that in total motorists pay more than just VED: revenue from fuel duty in 2004/05 was £23bn (Table 7.15 in DfT 2006, 129). Does this additional taxation mean that drivers pay a fair price after all? To make a meaningful comparison, if we take into account these additional taxes on motorists, we must also take into account the wider cost of motor vehicles to the economy as a whole. The economic cost of road accidents, for example, was estimated in 2004 to be some £18bn per year (DfT 2004, 5) and the cost to the British economy of road traffic congestion was estimated to be £20bn, rising to £30bn by 2010 (Goodwin 2004, 2). In 1998 it was calculated that between 12,000 and 24,000 deaths may be may "brought forward" each year in the UK as a result of air pollution, and that between 14,000 and 24,000 hospital admissions annually result from poor air quality (COMEAP 1998), to which road transport is by far the largest single contributor (FoE 1999, 1), and although the resulting economic cost is not estimated it must be considerable. In this light, and without even factoring in the less easily established costs of damage to wildlife, noise pollution, contribution to climate change, and end-of-life disposal of motor vehicles, it is already clear that motorists do not currently pay anything like the full cost of motoring.

 

[Gramaisc]

If the road is clear and you can make it then there's nothing wrong with that. We don't have a jaywalking rule in the UK.

Often I would much sooner nip across and not stop the traffic than press the button. But often there's just so much traffic that it is impossible.

The implementation of countdown timers, rather than a simple 'red man' vastly reduces this problem. One day we'll catch up here.

And I frequently see people automatically poke the button and then realise there's nothing coming, so they amble across. A minute later there'll be a queue of cars waiting pointlessly at an empty crossing.

Great idea but there are still people crossing before the green man is lit.

That's because they can see that the approaching traffic is far enough away for them to be stopped before they get there. That's why the green man period can be shorter. Everybody wins.

 

[tek-monkey]

Wasn't someone knocked down today or another car incident at the tesco traffic lights earlier, around 1.30 just outside the peugeot garage? the police had stopped the traffic and parked across the road. Couldn't see what was going on as I was already late for college.

There was a royal mail van stopped on the crossing, no idea why.

 

[zebidee]

There was a royal mail van stopped on the crossing, no idea why.

Blooming ridiculous, that was, couldn't believe what I was seeing! Luckily I was coming out of Tesco turning left.

 

[Gramaisc]

Newsletter article about a 'crisis meeting' concerning this stretch of Lichfield Road.

 

[staffordjas]

Newsletter article about a 'crisis meeting' concerning this stretch of Lichfield Road.

<<Councillor Harris said heavy and often slow-moving traffic on the road is also leading to some drivers becoming “far less cautious than they might otherwise be”. >>

A lot of the fault also lies with quite a few pedestrians seeming oblivious to the fact that there is actually any traffic on the road at all!
Driving past the bus stop by the old peoples flats there the other day a bloke had just got off the bus, walked around the back of the bus and straight in front of my car without a glance. Didn't even seem aware that he had made 2 lanes of traffic stop for him.That's the second person to step out in front of me on that stretch in just a couple of weeks.

I also do a lot of walking into town along Lichfield Road and know how dangerous it is trying to get over the roads safely,especially the left turn off Lichfield Rd towards B&Q and Frankie & Benny's .There is no crossing on that one piece of road leading to B & Q and as hardly anyone indicates left , it can look as if they are going straight on towards town and suddenly they swerve and into that road. If you step off when it looks clear and start crossing, at 30 mph or more the cars are soon almost on top of you.

 

[Hetairoi]

I actually drove past as that photo was being taken!

Looks like he is at a funeral!