0{t r} Pedestrians Association fufi$ffi"r$$ft

OXFORD PEDESTRIANSASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER JULY.AUGUST 1999 rssuENo. a* Y

Welcometo Issuenumber 28 of PedestriansAssociation newsletter! This newsletter comestyped couftesy of Jenny,our Chair,as your NewsletterEditor hasbroken her leg andcannot accessher computer.

Havinga brokenleg meansbecoming a different,yet morewlnerable kind of pedestrian.In a wheelchairone becomes acutely aware of everybump, every.crossfall, and every obstacle. There areendless numbers of all of theseon all pavements.The smoothestand easiest part of the public highwayis the middleof the road,and we all know whoseterritory that is. Also pollutionfrom exhaustbecomes more of a problemto someonelow down. Altogethera brokenleg is a valuable learningexperience for a pedestrianinterested in the mobilityof all footwayusers. - Oxford Transport Strategr (OTS) Memberswill be awarethat this was to comeinto effecton May 30th. It duly did andit is a great reliefto be ableto walk andbreathe without fear or dangeron CornmarketStreet and the west end of Broad Street. High Streetis alsoquieter and more pleasant. However,the OTS hasits downsidetoo...the Station Site has become a dangerousand heavily pollutedarea" without the reliefpreviously afforded by the matureroadside plane trees on . Crossingsare inconveniently placed as OXPA andothers have been saylng from the beginningsof OTS time that theywould be. The pedestrians'lightsare confusingly sited, they dont bleep,and where there are two stagesto a crossingthe greenman for the secondpart beckonsyou acrosswheq actually,the first part is red. Thereare so manyother unsatisfrctory things that it would be tediousto subjectyou to the list. Sufficeit to saythat it is NOT a pedestrians'paradise. (Sparea thogshthere for the cyclistsamong us, it is dangerous,inconvenient and fast becoming an anarchicalmess - Jenny). All alongthe new'innerring route' it is heavilycongested with cars,usually one driver and no passengersin eactqwith grim expressionsas if determinedto overcomethe trafrc jams by force of will and driving in daily. Hopefully somewill give up and changeto other modesoftransport soon. 'wever,the'inner ring route (Oxpens, Street,, Beaumont Street, St.Giles,Parks Road) sorely needs pedestrian facilities as soonas possible. These have been verballypromised but so far thereis no signof them. Therehas been pavement sliced away to widenroads at the bottom of GeorgeStreet (north andsouth side), and in front of Blackwellson HytheBridge Street. Thesepavements now measureless than two metres. Thereare non-statutory guidelinesfor the width of roadsand pavements, but at hugeexpense the Councilswiden roads to statutoryguidelines and narrow pavements below them. Thereis a new crossinghalfway down HytheBridge Streetwhere no-one much wants to cross; mostpedestrians are on the Station-City Centreroute. The crossingat the endof ParksRoad going into BanburyRoad is perfect,on a desireline. Why can'tthey all be like that? In the ScienceArea the pedestriancrossings are good too, but thereis still an urgentneed for onein front of UniversityParks, and onein front of WorcesterCollege. Walkingalong Longwall Streetthere is scarcelyany pavement on eitherside - it is a nightmare. At the June OXPA meetingit was agreedthat it would be goodto put togethera post- OTS pedestrians'dossier. It needsanothei few weeksfor the OTS changesto Jettledown so that we havea clearpicture of the situationbut if anybodycan contribute comments, obsewations, phctographsthey would be very welcome. dAfutu',$$ffi4* and Road 2) on August 20th a motionwill be put beforethe county council Highways re-educatedabout driving SafetySub-committee for debate. It callsfor driversto be warnedand the roads. It arguesthat moreslowly and carefully where there are likely to be childrenon or near andthat young the emphas-isis far too solelyplaced on educatingchildren about road safety, 'safely' the introductionof Home childrenare unable to usestreets as asadults. The motion calls for in oxfordshire.Should Zones(where the local people and children can use and play in theirstreets) ring Ann Lowe at anyonewish to speakon u.tlurof o)GA at the meeting,please would they CountyHall on 01865l)'r *z+zz' - demonstration, 3) oxpA has t250 in its account. Any ideasfor usingthis usefully socialevent, picnic..letJenny, Corinne, Sushila know andwe candiscuss it at the nextmeeting. Councillorswould 4) oxpA notesthat therewas no PedestrianForum this year. SurelyCity Pleaseurge your not let sucha marvellousopportunity to hearthe viewsof pedestrianslie fallow? - it is. uwn coilncillorstc ensureG meetiugtakes place it happenslittle enoughas andTraffic S)pedestrianOflicer Campaign. AlexHollingsworth, City CouncilChair of Highways to him but the Committeedecided to vote down creatinga PedestrianOffficer post. Jennywrote of pedestrian replywas very unsatisfactory.He consid-ersthat all the officersarelshould be aware needsand that to give the responsibilityto oneofficer would marginalisethe issue. O)(PA responsibility' considersthat the iogic is the exactopposite and that in realityno-one takes on the goingon was 6) Roadworks. The issueof pedestrianaccess and safety whilst roadworks are saying debatedat CountyEnvironment Committee, which deniedresponsibility for this, "the councillors, contractorsare responsible for safety". In the endit seemsthat the police,officers, (andduring the OTS traffic wardens,workmen are all not responsibleand think someoneelse is. andwater works O)(PA hascontacted all of themseveral times!) Young' 7) The issueof pavementparking wasthe subjectof a written report by David to do Director of County Environmenial Services.it advisesthat the bestway forward "is policeparkon nothing',.This makesyour NewsletterEditor's blood heat up somewhat.Elen the wheelchairs, pavements.Some aisautea drivers also habitually park on pavements,heedless of the needto pass.This is an issuerequiring action' i"a.rtri*, anddisabled car-free people who may inctudedin the E) pleasecontact your NewsletterEditor if you haveanything you would like Newsletteror if you havesuggestions, complaints etc' comeand bring a our next meetingis MondayJuly lgth at 7.30p.m.in oxford rown Hall. Please friend,everyone is welcome. **pleasecontact Jenny beforethe Augustmeeting to checkif there is one**

ContactNumbers Tony Cox (MembershipSecretara)...... 279510 JennyLinsdell (Chairperson)...... 246079 patrick f,ingwood(technical Advisor) and SushilaDhall (NewsletterEditor)....553415 CorinneGrimley-dvans (Cycling and PedestrianSub-committee)""'779663

NationalPedestrians Association 3rd Floor,3l-33 Bondway,Vauxhall, London SWS f SJ Tel' 0171820 1010