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Roads Service

Answer

The Chief Executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) was asked to write to the hon. Gentleman in response to these questions. A copy of his reply, dated 4 May, is as follows.This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.Letter from Dr. Malcolm McKibbin, dated 4 May 2007:"You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland two Parliamentary Questions regarding:""1. which public consultations the Roads Service of Northern Ireland and the Department of the Environment has conducted in the past 12 months on the location of new zebra and pelican crossings; what the time period was of such consultation; what steps were taken to ensure that nearby individuals and businesses were invited to participate in the consultation; and if he will make a statement; and""2. if he will place in the Library a copy of the document setting out the criteria used to determine the location of zebra and pelican crossings in Northern Ireland; what the requirements are for the minimum distance from which such crossings must be visible to oncoming motorists; and if he will make a statement.""As this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of the Department for Regional Development’s Roads Service, I have been asked to reply.""I should explain that Roads Service’s policy in relation to pedestrian crossings is to provide such facilities where there is an identifiable need and where the conditions at any potential site make it difficult for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the road. An integral part of the process is an assessment of the ‘demand’ and ‘difficulty’ of crossing the road at the location concerned. The initial part of our assessment process uses the number of pedestrians (the initial demand factor) and the volume of traffic (the initial difficulty factor) to give an indication of the potential ‘conflict’ at a site. The assessment of the need for a crossing is then supplemented using a scorecard, which assigns scores to various other ‘demand’ and ‘difficulty’ factors, including collision history at the site. This policy is designed to assess the need and to prioritise locations ““where pedestrians encounter difficulties in crossing the road due to the high volumes of vehicular traffic. This is applied consistently and impartially when assessing all requests in Northern Ireland, so that available funding can be directed at those sites with the greatest need.""Attached for information is a copy of our public information leaflet on Controlled Pedestrian Crossings (a copy will be placed in the House of Commons Library).""There is no statutory requirement for Roads Service to formerly consult on proposals to construct traffic management features such as pedestrian crossings. However, our policy is to carry out informal consultations with the police and frontages along the length of road affected by any proposal. There is no set period for this consultation. The list at Appendix 1 details the locations of proposed zebra and pelican pedestrian crossings where consultations were carried out in 2006/07 financial year.""The requirements for the minimum distance from which all types of crossings must be visible to oncoming motorists depends on the approach speed of vehicles in the vicinity of a proposed crossings and are detailed below."

	All types of crossings—visibility requirements
85 percentile approach speed (m.p.h.)	25	30	35	40	45	50
Desirable minimum visibility (metres)	50	65	80	100	125	150
Absolute minimum visibility (metres)	40	50	65	80	95	115

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

135597; 460 c3-5W;460 c3-6W

Session

2006-07

Related items

Deposited Paper DEP 07/1302
Tuesday, 8 May 2007
Deposited papers
House of Commons

Subjects

Roads Service

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk