Green light for pedestrians

Green light for pedestrians

Canberra Pedestrian Forum’s Leon Arundell has successfully campaigned for improvements to traffic light sequencing on the intersection of Northbourne, Macarthur and Wakefield Avenues. 						Picture: Elesa Lee
Green light for pedestrians

The Canberra Pedestrian Forum has successfully campaigned for improvements to traffic light sequencing on the intersection of Northbourne, Macarthur and Wakefield Avenues.

The City Chronicle                  Tuesday                 02 August 2011

 Green light for pedestrians

 By Naomi Fallon

Canberra walkers now have a safer, faster route to the city thanks to improvements made to traffic light sequencing on Northbourne Avenue.

After lobbying the Government for five years, the Canberra Pedestrian Forum is pleased a “road danger black spot” has been alleviated at the intersection of Northbourne, Macarthur and Wakefield avenues.

The most significant change, according to forum convenor Leon Arundell, is the introduction of an “auto-start” for pedestrians crossing Wakefield and Macarthur Avenues. This means that the pedestrian signal now goes green whenever the vehicle signal goes green. Mr Arundell believes pedestrians are now more likely to cross the road safely at this particular intersection.

“Most people were ignoring the lights, thinking instead that they could use their own judgment about whether it was safe to cross,” he said. “Now the lights tell you when it’s safe to cross.”

Roads ACT manager of traffic signals Michael Day confirmed that the sequencing had been changed. “We had some discussions with Canberra Pedestrian Forum … and Leon pointed out that this intersection was an issue,” he said. Mr Day said vehicles wouldn’t be inconvenienced by the changes. “It’s a means of reducing the delays for pedestrians … we already do it at other intersections,” he said.

Despite that, Mr Day couldn’t identify any other intersections where the lights would be retimed in the near future. “It’s something we could introduce on a needs basis, it’s not something we can do quickly, it does involve some work on our behalf,” he said.

Note: copyright of the material in this clipping resides with Fairfax Media. Usage permitted in accordance with the Australian Copyright Act 1968, Section 42: Fair dealing for purpose of reporting news. Source: The City Chronicle – 02 August 2011

 

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