(2) what assessment he has made of the health and safety implications of the lack of pedestrian crossing provision on the High Donaghadee Road in Bangor, near to Montgomery Court;
(3) if he will allocate funding to provide pedestrian crossing on the High Donaghadee Road in Bangor, near to Montgomery Court;
(4) what the (a) date, (b) time, (c) duration and (d) nature was of each survey carried out on the High Donaghadee Road in Bangor, near Montgomery Court, in order to assess the need for a pedestrian crossing in the provision at this location;
The Chief Executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) has been asked to write to the hon. Lady in response to this question.
Letter from Dr. Malcolm McKibbin, dated 24 April 2007:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 4 Parliamentary Questions regarding:
how many complaints his Department has received about the lack of pedestrian crossing provision on the High Donaghadee Road in Bangor, near to Montgomery Court. (133111)
what assessment he has made of the health and safety implications of the lack of pedestrian crossing provision on the High Donaghadee Road in Bangor, near to Montgomery Court. (133115)
if he will allocate funding to provide pedestrian crossing on the High Donaghadee Road in Bangor, near to Montgomery Court. (133116)
what the (a) date, (b) time, (c) duration and (d) nature was of surveys carried out on the High Donaghadee Road in Bangor, near Montgomery Court, in order to assess the need or a pedestrian crossing in the provision of this location. (133389)
As this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service, I have been asked to reply.
I should explain that Roads Service’s policy in relation to pedestrian crossings is to provide such facilities where there is an identifiable need and where the conditions at any potential site make it difficult for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the road. An integral part of the process is an assessment of the ‘demand’ and ‘difficulty’ of crossing the road at the location concerned. The initial part of our assessment process uses the number of pedestrians (the initial demand factor) and the volume of traffic (the initial difficulty factor) to give an indication of the potential ‘conflict’ at a site. The assessment of the need for a crossing is then supplemented using a scorecard, which assigns scores to various other ‘demand’ and ‘difficulty’ factors, including collision history at the site. This policy is designed to assess the need and to prioritise locations where pedestrians encounter difficulties in crossing the road due to the high volumes of vehicular traffic. This is applied consistently and impartially when assessing all requests in Northern Ireland, so that available funding can be directed at those with the greatest need.
With regard to the number of complaints received in relation to the lack of crossing facilities on the High Donaghadee Road between the roundabout with the East Circular road and the junction with the Ballycrochan Road, I can advise that since September 2005, five individuals have corresponded with Roads Service over this issue. In total these five people have written on nine occasions, with one resident including a petition of approximately 150 signatures. Roads Service has no record of complaints about the lack of pedestrian crossing facilities at this location prior to 2005.
In relation to health and safety implications, I am advised that survey observations, obtained as part of the process for determining the need for a controlled pedestrian crossing facility, concluded that there were a very small number of pedestrians wishing to cross the road at this location and as such, it was considered that there was little conflict between pedestrians and vehicular traffic.
In light of the survey findings, I am afraid that it is not possible to make funding available for a controlled pedestrian crossing facility at this location at this time. However, in such circumstances Roads Service may consider other measures to assist pedestrians, such as footway build-outs and central refuge islands, which shorten the crossing width and improve visibility thereby reducing the crossing difficulty. Central refuges can be particularly useful to vulnerable pedestrians such as elderly people.
I am pleased to advise you that Roads Service is presently designing such a scheme for this location. However, I have to stress that this proposal is at a very early stage and will require a degree of public consultation prior to the detailed layout being finalised. Hopefully we will be able to complete this work within the current financial year.
Finally, with regard to your enquiry for details of the surveys, I can advise that they were carried out on the High Donaghadee Road, between Ballymaconnell Road South and Ballycrochan Road, on 7 September 2005 between 8 and 10 am, on 3 October 2005 between 2 and 4 pm and on 5 October 2005 between 4 and 6 pm. Surveys were also carried out on the High Donaghadee Road, between Ashford Drive and Kilmaine Road, on 9 November 2005 between 4 and 6 pm and on 10 November 2005 between 8 and 10 am. These surveys involved the counting of vehicles passing along the High Donaghadee Road and the numbers of pedestrians crossing within 50m either side of the centre of the survey zone.