The crossing, which will be located around 50 metres from the bottom of the hill and its junction with La Vallette, has received negative feedback from motorists, the St Peter Port constables and the island’s first civilian road safety officer, who have said with too many junctions already it is dangerous.
However, Living Streets Guernsey LBG has said its installation would be beneficial for islanders’ safety.
‘Until it is completed and working, it is difficult to give a pedestrian’s viewpoint on it,’ said the group’s secretary, Pat Wisher.
‘We strongly believe that crossings need to be positioned where pedestrians want or need to cross the road.
‘We know that there is a crossing near the bus terminus, but human nature is such that a pedestrian wants to take the quickest or shortest route.
‘If there isn’t a nearby crossing they will take their chances of crossing this wide, busy road in between the traffic.
‘Jaywalking is dangerous, particularly at night and also particularly if the pedestrian is wearing dark clothes, it therefore makes sense to direct them to this new crossing.’
She also said due to the fact that it will be a courtesy crossing, similar to the one near the Town Church, where pedestrians try to establish eye contact with an approaching motorist, rather than a zebra crossing, it would work better.
‘Zebra crossings can be more dangerous because some pedestrians consider it as their right of way,’ she added.
‘They often step out without checking the traffic, therefore a courtesy crossing actually works well because a pedestrian knows that they need to make eyecontact with a driver before crossing.’
The group’s view comes from a survey it conducted in 2003 of every zebra crossing, 39 of them, in the island.
‘We commented on how safe they were from a pedestrian point of view both in daylight and on a dark rainy night,’ she said.
‘Since then Guernsey has gained many light controlled crossings and also a few more zebra crossings.
‘However, in our view, we still need to provide more crossing points for pedestrians, and particularly for parents and children.
‘The new courtesy crossing at the bottom of Le Val des Terres is, therefore, a welcome addition.’
You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.