Transport for London has admitted that one in five signalised crossings do not meet the national minimum standard on the clearance period between the pedestrian and vehicle phases.
In a response to a Freedom of Information request by Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat chair of the London Assembly transport committee, TfL has revealed details of the 472 crossings branded as ‘substandard’. TfL acknowledged that the upgrades for 166 of these were ‘currently unscheduled’.
Former mayor, Ken Livingstone, had faced calls in 2007 to upgrade all signals at London’s 2,383 signalised junctions with pedestrian crossing facilities to provide the recommended minimum pedestrian phase.
The current mayor, Boris Johnson, pledged last May to tackle ‘an appalling legacy of neglect’ by ensuring that all the capital’s signals complied with the national minimum standards on pedestrian crossing times (Surveyor, 22 May 2008).
Ms Pidgeon commented: ‘As a matter of urgency, the mayor and TfL should get their acts together and ensure crossings are made as safe as possible, as quickly as possible.’ Pidgeon said, given that the Department for Transport standards were published in 2005, in a traffic advisory leaflet, ‘TfL really has no excuses’. London had ‘the highest number of pedestrian deaths and serious injuries of any other region of the UK’.
TfL said in its response to the FoI request that, while all traffic signals complied with the DfT guidelines prevailing when installed, 777 sites were identified in 2007 and 2008 as requiring upgrading to meet the 2005 standard.
TfL added: ‘Although some sites do not currently comply with latest DfT guidelines, they provide a safe opportunity for pedestrians to cross the road.
‘Drivers should not proceed unless it is safe to do so.’ TfL plans to upgrade 138 of the crossings in the current financial year, and 168 in the next two. The remaining 166 sites would ‘be scheduled into 2010/11 and 2011/12’. The junctions concerned include crossings on Oxford Street, Parliament Square, Camden High Street, and Kensington High Street.
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