Remodelled traffic island on the Borough High St end of Great Dover Street

Hi all

Is anyone else concerned by the work done in remodelling the traffic island on the Borough High St end of Great Dover Street? They only made the changes a few days ago, but I've already seen a few near misses (one very near one this afternoon). This fazed me so much that I’ve even been inspired send the following Southwark Council:

“The recent alterations to the traffic island on the Borough High St end of Great Dover Street (to remove the barriers etc) have had the unfortunate effect of increasing the chance of accidents occurring to pedestrians trying to cross the road.
The problem is that as you approach the road from Long Lane, intending to cross Great Dover Street, you look up to see a 'green man' light opposite indicating that it is safe to cross. Unfortunately, this signal is intended for people who are on the central island only – there is still traffic running into the north side of Great Dover Street. I have twice today seen people walk into the road (once stepping out from the north side pavement and once stepping out from the central island heading north) only to have to dodge the traffic coming towards them from Marshalsea Road. This afternoon’s incident was a particularly close call!
This could be resolved by putting back a small section of barrier on the north side of the central island, just opposite the 'green man' located on the south of the street. This would indicate to people that they cannot just cross both sides of the road at once.
Please can you respond with your thoughts on this matter and what is to be done to resolve the problem. Thank you.”

Has anyone else noticed any problems, or have I just been walking near some very pre-occupied / accident-prone people lately?

i heard there was going to be one of those regent street/oxford street multi-point crossings going in there. whatever the case it is a horrendous junction for cars and pedestrians alike

I think it's a great improvement to be honest.

The removal of the barriers looks a lot better and gives a better sense of space. Plus doing the 'zig zag' from long lane towards the tube was pain in the ass.

Studies have shown that removing the barriers actually increases the safety as it makes drivers naturally slow down. This has been proven in numerous other boroughs (see High Street Kensington as a good example, they even lowered the kerbs too from what I remember)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article703116.ece

Yep, High St Ken is a great example of this sort of thing and the results there were fantastic, both in terms of appearance and safety.

I'm sure there will be a couple of teething problems while people adjust their behaviours, but most people using the crossing before skiirted around the outside of the barriers when crossing north anyway, so it shouldn't be much of a difference other than people being more visable and traffic taking a bit more care.

Here is your guide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_space

Although heavy going, this is the official DfT manual encouraging more shared space:

http://www2.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/manforstreets/pdfmanforstreets.pdf

The work is being conducted by TFL so suggest any comments are sent there rather than to Southwark Council.

PS - I prefer the new layout. The railings were hugely inefficient when there were loads of people trying to cross.

Jon Berger wrote:

PS - I prefer the new layout. The railings were hugely inefficient when there were loads of people trying to cross.

Agreed. Big improvement.

Huge fan of the change... loving it!!

Does anybody find that the crosslight at the junction between Great dover street and Tabard street is now confusing and also dangerous?

When you cross now you don't have physical barriers, and this is great, but the two signals are not timed together and not in line as well. So you still should do the zig zag..

I see many people seeing green on the other side and going for it when the light is red on their side. It is very dangerous. Are they planning to fix this?

I might have explained this badly but it is pretty obvious if you try to cross it. Thank you for feed back.