[ad_1]
Run to the other side
Experts claim the opposite: the installation of these crossings saves lives, because those who cross the street in an unmarked place are forced to be more careful.
Jurgita of Panevėžys does not think so. According to her, at the end of Smėlynės Street, near bus stop 15, there is a prominent security island, which is far from similar to crossing the street to safety. People getting off the bus are said to be forced to run to the island and then wait for a chance to run across the street, where there isn’t even a way to walk the trail, just a normal stretch of grass alongside on the street.
As the traffic on Smėlynės Street is intense, in front of the city limits, some drivers do not avoid stepping on the speed pedal, so crossing the street, according to Jurgita, is dangerous for both adults and children.
Panevėžys says that he has submitted an application to the city municipality for such a situation. After receiving a letter from there stating that an unmarked passage with a protruding safety island had been installed at the site, it was illuminated and therefore suitable for pedestrians. It is not planned to mark this junction with road signs and horizontal marking lines in the near future.
“What does an unmarked passage mean? And the fact that the cars do not have to stop and jump to the pedestrians ”, is outraged Jurgita. In the event of an accident, they say, it is not yet known who would be at fault: the driver of the car or the pedestrian who crossed the street in front of the official crosswalk.
“Do we have to wait for a disaster and only then solve the problem? – asks Panevėžys, who raises two primitives herself. “Who will be responsible if a child is beaten in that place?”
According to her, no one is asking for a traffic light crossing to be installed here.
“But if there was an official crossing marked, the cars would stop jumping and there would be no need to cross the street in an unsafe way,” she is convinced.
You will have to wait for the rebuild.
The unmarked crossover concept appeared not so long ago, a few years ago.
According to Dalius Vadluga, head of the Infrastructure Department of the City of Panevėžys City Municipality, by definition, an unmarked crossing is a crossing point through a road or street adapted for pedestrian traffic by engineering means: sloping sides, a elevated security island or others. It is not marked with crosswalks or horizontal marking lines.
There are currently 7 unmarked crosses in Panevėžys. At the end of Smėlynės street it is thus installed because the signposted crossing did not meet the requirements of the laws in force at that time, says D. Vadluga.
“Pedestrians do not have priority at this crossing, but there are conditions to cross the street safely, making sure there are no cars, it is equipped with lighting, security islands, access.”
But it won’t be that way for long. During the reconstruction of Smėlynės Street, a pedestrian crossing will be marked.
“Depending on the funding received, we hope to begin reconstruction works on the street next year,” promises D. Vadluga.
Fraudulent security
That crosswalks are not the safest place for pedestrians, experts have been talking for years. Of course, it is not themselves to blame for this, but drivers and pedestrians, who often forget the most basic rules of the road.
“Most pedestrians imagine that the crosswalk is very safe and sacred to them. The statistics show something completely different, ”says Virginijus Mačėnas, Head of the Highway Police Service of the Panevėžys County Police Chief Commissariat.
This year alone, three pedestrians were killed in Panevėžys. Two of them are in the dark of the day and in crosswalks. Another 22 people were injured at the crossings.
According to the official, this is due to a deceptive sense of security: a pedestrian crossing is imagined visible and protected by traffic regulations. It is not always thought that the driver may not notice it when approaching a level crossing.
Unfortunately, such trends are prevalent throughout the country, admits V. Machen.
And with them came unmarked transitions. After specialists assess certain traffic, pedestrian flows, and other criteria in certain areas, elevated island crossings are prepared to force drivers to slow down, and pedestrians, in the absence of a traditional “zebra,” to look at the countries and behave more carefully, skip cars.
The rules must be remembered
According to the head of the Panevėžys County Police Chief Commissariat Highway Police Service, it is natural for citizens to get angry when they are not missed by motorists. But it really just works out.
“The pedestrian then looks around, he does not die, he is not injured”, says V. Mač ynas and recalls that in the future there will be more unmarked crossings in Panevėžys. As it is already installed on Tulpių Street, near the Panevėžys District Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the official, when teaching children about safe traffic, special emphasis is placed on the fact that it is possible to cross the street only at the intersection.
“But where are they not, and what, the child will not cross the street? The rules then say that you go to the nearest intersection, but pedestrians don’t have priority here either, ”he recalls.
If there is no crossing or intersection nearby, after passing all the cars, it is possible to cross the street elsewhere. And unmarked crosses are a safer option to do so.
According to V. Mačėnas, parents must explain this to the offspring and teach them to be careful first. Especially because, according to him, not all drivers also know where pedestrians can cross the road.
The head of the traffic police service smiles and himself repeatedly after walking to work after hearing comments from drivers.
“I walk across the crossroads and hear, ‘What, you don’t know where to go on the other side of the street ?! Pass through the junction! ”. You have to answer politely: “Driver, read the traffic rules.”
[ad_2]
