UK-onlyRoadSafetyFilter: how do I get a pavement put in our dangerous road for my kids and others?
December 26, 2012 3:38 PM Subscribe
I want to get a couple of neighbours (directly or via the municipality) to put a pavement in the currently pretty dangerous piece of road that connects me and my kids' house to town so we can walk there safely. UK only please.
I live on a nice road in a small suburb in the UK with my wife and two very small kids.
Although it's nice (read "house prices are ridiculous so we live in a tiny apartment just off the road") it's also fairly unsafe: 2 blind corners either side of the cul de sac we have to come out of every morning, a little hill that also makes it impossible to spot people coming the other way, and notably reckless drivers (either moving without much attention to speed/each other, or parking on the road in stupid places).
And: there's no pavement. OK, there is, but on the main walking route into town there's nothing but a grassy bank on one side, and the ends of people's over-inflated-equity drives on the other.
There are only 4 or five houses between our little apartment block and the next normal paved street on the way into town, so I'm thinking: isn't it a no-brainer to get a proper pavement put in?
This is a route used by many families in our block, as well as pretty fragile elderly people, so it would benefit us and them too, without taking any significant real value from the 4 houses affected (it's literally just a couple feet of grass or gravel that's barely used anyhow as they all park in the road a lot).
At the moment we either make a big detour or risk walking on the road, which I hate and fear quite a bit, as I've seen the driving standards and I know people have been hit on an adjacent road even with a pavement; otherwise we can walk over the grass (muddy and slippery) or the fag-ends of the drives (muddy, slippery and a bit degrading because it feels like walking over someone's garden even if in a civilised area this would be the sidewalk!)...
Just put in a path, no big deal, right?
What's the best way to achieve this? Talk directly to them? Call the council? Other?
I live on a nice road in a small suburb in the UK with my wife and two very small kids.
Although it's nice (read "house prices are ridiculous so we live in a tiny apartment just off the road") it's also fairly unsafe: 2 blind corners either side of the cul de sac we have to come out of every morning, a little hill that also makes it impossible to spot people coming the other way, and notably reckless drivers (either moving without much attention to speed/each other, or parking on the road in stupid places).
And: there's no pavement. OK, there is, but on the main walking route into town there's nothing but a grassy bank on one side, and the ends of people's over-inflated-equity drives on the other.
There are only 4 or five houses between our little apartment block and the next normal paved street on the way into town, so I'm thinking: isn't it a no-brainer to get a proper pavement put in?
This is a route used by many families in our block, as well as pretty fragile elderly people, so it would benefit us and them too, without taking any significant real value from the 4 houses affected (it's literally just a couple feet of grass or gravel that's barely used anyhow as they all park in the road a lot).
At the moment we either make a big detour or risk walking on the road, which I hate and fear quite a bit, as I've seen the driving standards and I know people have been hit on an adjacent road even with a pavement; otherwise we can walk over the grass (muddy and slippery) or the fag-ends of the drives (muddy, slippery and a bit degrading because it feels like walking over someone's garden even if in a civilised area this would be the sidewalk!)...
Just put in a path, no big deal, right?
What's the best way to achieve this? Talk directly to them? Call the council? Other?
I would start by contacting your local authority. In my LA the people to contact would be the Road Safety Team. If you don't get any luck there (and in many authorities staff are being cut so services will be less good than they were) try your councillor. I'm not sure I'd be too hopeful if I'm understanding you correctly that you're suggesting that the owners of the land should allow its use as a pavement, but the road safety staff may have some other ideas. You could also check whether there have been accidents in the past in your road (try this BBC interactive map for fatalities 1999 to 2008).
posted by paduasoy at 4:36 PM on December 26, 2012
posted by paduasoy at 4:36 PM on December 26, 2012
Response by poster: Thanks to all for your replies!
Could I ask Jehan, what does "adopted" mean in the context of a road? Do you have a reference to explain that?
posted by KMH at 2:16 PM on December 29, 2012
Could I ask Jehan, what does "adopted" mean in the context of a road? Do you have a reference to explain that?
posted by KMH at 2:16 PM on December 29, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
If your ward councilors are too distant or useless, try speaking to parish council. It should be pretty easy for one of their committees to put in an official note to the local authority, which will get far more notice than an individual would.
It may also be useful to find out exactly where the owners' boundaries lie, and also if or not your road is adopted. These things could make a big difference to what the local authority can do.
posted by Jehan at 4:28 PM on December 26, 2012