High Street is no longer safe

I agree with David Brown’s comments (Postbag last week) that the new safety changes have made Warwick High Street dangerous for many pedestrians who wish to cross the road.

Warwick’s Regeneration spokes person said that one pedestrian crossing had been removed and replaced with four new informal crossings - at which unfortunately traffic is not obliged to stop.

At these four road junctions the road is raised to pavement level and the kerbs have been removed. This means that people who are blind or have poor sight can no longer tell if they are walking on the pavement or in the road, and if they wish to cross then they must step out in front of approaching vehicles which they cannot see. Warwick High Street is therefore no longer safe for people with little or no sight.

There is a popular theory which says that drivers will drive more carefully if they encounter pedestrians in the road in many different places, and that the best way to make this happen is to remove Kerbs and crossings.

If a controlled Puffin type crossing is installed near Castle Street and Church Street, then old, disabled and visually impaired people will once again be able to safely cross the High Street without assistance.

Will Warwick relent and install a controlled pedestrian crossing, or are they still so sure that they are right, and that the blind and disabled should keep well away from Warwick unless they come with some capable assistance? - David Bates, National Federation of the Blind of the UK.