'Only a matter of time' before pedestrian gets hit at busy Aylesbury crossing

Jon Murray has been trying to get action taken to improve the safety of the crossing at the junction of Broadfields and the Bicester Road by McDonald’s since last year.

But so far his pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

Mr Murray told the Herald his concerns about the crossing.

He said: “In my view, the current informal crossing is dangerous for pedestrians because vehicles approaching from the south turn quickly into Broadfields – which is essentially a blind corner – and are upon pedestrians in no time.

“The site line is inadequate because the crossing is obscured by the bend in the road and by the high hedge along the side of the footway.

“The crossing is extremely busy and probably one of the busiest in the town. If safety is not enhanced, I would say it will only be a matter of time before a pedestrian is struck by a vehicle for the reasons given.”

The Free Press asked Mr Murray what he would like to see Buckinghamshire Council do to improve the crossing’s safety.

He added: “I have to say that in my opinion, its criteria for assessing the safety of the crossing is far from robust.

“The council has essentially said that the crossing is safe because no incidents involving pedestrians have been reported recently.

“This could be taken to mean that the council will only take the matter seriously once the number of incidents starts to rack up.

“It is fair to say that the council would be best taking a proactive approach to minimise the likelihood of an incident occurring.”

The Herald asked Buckinghamshire Council what it was doing to enhance this site’s safety.

In response, a spokesperson said: “As the result of request from a resident a TfB Technician visited the location in August 2020 and inspected the hedge mentioned (which is the responsibility of the landowner to maintain).

“At this time the hedge was considered to be in good order.

“The Council receives many requests for the introduction of measures to improve road safety or reduce traffic speeds, unfortunately, however, we do not have the funding to enable all schemes to be installed and therefore have to prioritise areas where the frequency and severity of collisions is high.

“Having checked the location from reported injury collision reports provided to us by Thames Valley Police there has not been any pedestrian collisions at this location in the last 10 years.

“The dropped kerbs, tactile paving and red surfacing currently in place indicate the presence of a formal crossing.

“Unfortunately TfB is unable to provide zebra crossing or light controlled crossing on all roads where pedestrians may wish to cross.

“The Council has, however, devolved funds for local priorities, to Community Boards. Boards are public meetings where residents are able to attend and raise their concerns about things that affect them in their area.

“If Community Boards agree that concerns raised are a priority, there is a modest budget that may be available to support resolutions.”