A fatality is waiting to happen at Dip, warns Hollingdean candidate

A fatality is waiting to happen at Hollingdean Dip, a Green Party candidate has warned after a petition concerning the road layout was handed over at a Full Council Meeting.

Hollingdean and Stanmer ward candidate Christina Summers has warned that action needs to be taken after a series of near misses around the Dip, which is crossed by many young school children.

She said: “This petition asks the council to take a proper overview of all the problems with the road layout in the Dip rather than look at just one part.

“Residents have identified several issues that contribute to their general feeling of vulnerability and concern when moving around the Dip: drivers’ speeds, parking on corners and double yellow lines, the bus stop location and layout, amongst others.”

At Thursday’s council meeting, cabinet member for environment Geoffrey Theobald explained that accidents had fallen in the area following improvements, but insisted residents’ concerns would be taken on board as a new method of assessing risks is adopted.

Cllr Theobald said: “The Council has already taken positive steps to improve road safety at The Dip. The road has undergone a number of improvements that include adjusting road layout and improved signage and lighting. Collision data for the last 3 years shows that these measures have and are working as the number of collisions has fallen significantly compared with the original road layout.

“However, the Council is sensitive to the concerns and perceptions of residents so we have developed a new methodology for assessing the requirements for pedestrian crossings that not only takes accidents into account but also includes pedestrian demand and I will ask officers to look into your request with this in mind.”

Christina Summers also warned that statistics can’t be relied upon to judge the road’s safety and urged action to be taken.

She said: “A fatality is waiting to happen and the many near misses are a clarion call for the council to do something before it’s too late.”

She added: “The Council’s ‘Pedestrian Crossing Assessment Methodology’ highlights the importance of public perception of dangerous roads and the impact of crossings on ‘community cohesion’.

“Yet this isn’t scored in their assessment, nor are the near miss collisions or the ‘predictable risk increasing dynamic situations’ (such as cars overtaking buses at build-outs every ten minutes), or the need to take into account the number of children under ten who use the street or how well vehicles adhere to speed limits.

“So how will the city council ensure that the safety of pedestrians who need to use the Hollingdean Dip will be incorporated into the council’s road safety assessment?”

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Posted by on March 28, 2011. Filed under Green Party,Hollingdean,Hollingdean & Stanmer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry