Council raises residents' safety fears over new pedestrian crossings after 'near misses'
A council has raised concerns about safety at new town-centre zebra crossings following worries from the general public.
Shifnal Town Council has written to Shropshire Council to highlight residents' concerns about a new zebra crossing on Market Place, and another on Victoria Road.
The crossings have been added as part of a Shropshire Council project to improve pavements and roads in Shifnal's town centre.
Concerns have been voiced that the crossings are being ignored, or missed by drivers, putting pedestrians at risk.
A Facebook post discussing the situation says there have been a number of near misses for people crossing the road.
One Shifnal mum told the Shropshire Star: "At the moment, drivers aren’t used to the new layout and it feels dangerous.
"I walk my son to school daily and we have already had multiple occasions when drivers have not stopped at the new crossing on Victoria Road in particular.
"For drivers coming up Market Place, they also now have to be aware of other motorists coming from Aston Street, Victoria Road and Bradford Street, as well as pedestrians who may be waiting at either crossing.
“I think there should be new signage to warn people while they adjust to the changes."
Shifnal Town Council has called for signs to be installed at the sites "as soon as possible".
In a statement it said: "Shifnal Town Council have become aware of recent concerns by residents raised on social media in relation to the new road layout of the town centre improvement scheme that is currently being completed.
"It appears that in particular there is growing concern regarding the use of the zebra crossing by pedestrians within the scheme and the time-frame for advisory signage to be installed to ensure that both pedestrians and motorists are aware of the new layout and design including the introduction of the new 20mph speed limit through the designated area.
"As a result Shifnal Town Council have written to Shropshire Council highlighting these concerns and asking for the signage to be installed as soon as possible, in the meantime for temporary signage to be placed to enhance user awareness.
"In addition, the safety audit due to be undertaken by Shropshire Council following the completion of the scheme should be undertaken as soon as possible to ensure that any issues that could have arisen since the introduction of the scheme are addressed as rapidly as possible."
Shropshire Council has been contacted for comment.
