People working on the busy Canton retail street, Cowbridge Road, have expressed their concerns over confusing new road crossings as a “Tragedy waiting to happen.”
Canton shop keepers have warned of potential dangers of new road crossings giving pedestrians right of way.
The pavements, built three months ago, are intended to make crossing certain areas of the road safer by continuing across the junction rather than stopping at the curb. However, several shopkeepers believe the right of way is unclear.
Canton Fruit Market shop assistant Lynn Breen has spotted the danger from working all day next to the junction. “The cars are supposed to give way to pedestrians, but they don’t,” she said. “They don’t realise that they have to stop for the pedestrians because it’s their right of way so that’s a tragedy waiting to happen.”
The paths also include bicycle stands and new road markings with a view of making the street more accessible to wider range of people including the disabled and the elderly.
Canton councillor, Stephen Cunnah said, “I would argue strongly that there are already signs there which are very clear established signs for drivers to follow.”
Other issues have been raised by shopkeepers about the tactile paving to aid the visually impaired. Mr Cunnah noted that drivers should already know that pedestrians have right of way on the crossing and said that he would feedback issues, about the tactile paving, to the appropriate officers.
Though there have not yet been any accidents involving pedestrians and the continuous footways, the busy Cowbridge Road is very familiar with road traffic incidents, especially around its junctions, two recent incidents involved a lorry hitting a road sign and a motorcycle that was hit by a car.
James, a barista at Hardlines Café on Cowbridge Road said, “It’s always been a problem junction, they’ve tried their best to fix it and make it better, I think there’s going to be issues no matter what they do to be honest.”
The continuous footway was completed at the end of the summer and according to Councillor Cunnah, is still due to go through its sign off stages.