Alliance formed aiming to make the island’s roads safer

A meeting was held to hear the views of representatives from groups including Living Streets, the Guernsey Bicycle Group, the Guernsey Motor Trades Association, CT Plus, the Health Improvement Commission, douzaines and the police.

They agreed that an alliance should be set up to turn ideas into reality and they are now seeking an independent chairperson to oversee it.

Living Streets Guernsey chairman Tom Le Pelley said the biggest barrier to active travel was an unease over safety.

‘A lot of people are telling us is that they don’t feel safe on our roads, they don’t feel safe on a pavement because there’s cars zooming past them.’

Supporting that theory is the evidence from the lockdowns, because when traffic vanished from the roads there was a noticeable increase in cycling.

One theme that emerged during the meeting was that more data was needed because the police statistics and court prosecutions were thought to be ‘only the tip of the iceberg’.

Dani Bennett from Living Streets suggested that an app could be developed for members of the public to report near misses and hot spots.

‘The States obviously has limited money, they need to prioritise and focus resources.

‘So if the third sector could provide that data it would be really helpful, but that costs money and needs someone with the technical knowledge to develop it.

‘An app could also be a forum for suggestions from the community, because if you ask anyone in Guernsey for a suggestion to improve road safety they will give you lots of ideas.

‘Maybe we could collate the ideas and then people could vote for them, and then the States could consider that information.

‘Something like that would be instrumental in changing the conversation.’

Guernsey Motor Trades Association president Robert Cornelius was also fully supportive of measures to allow cars, cyclists and pedestrians to co-exist safely.

‘It doesn’t matter whether we are walking, cycling or using a car, it’s about everyone coming together and making Guernsey a safer place.

‘There’s a lot of education that needs to be got through to people. We all have to show respect no matter what kind of transportation is used.

‘That’s probably the best thing we can do as Guernsey together, we all need to give each other some space.’