The A59 in Gisburn is a very busy main road as thousands of
vehicles pass through the village each day. There are many
vulnerable people including young children, elderly people and
disabled people, who need to cross the road to get between their
homes and places such as school, shops, the village hall and the
church, or just to visit friends. But they have great difficulty
doing so and some do not even bother to try because of the
danger.
The volume of traffic has increased - particularly the volume of
heavy commercial vehicles and agricultural vehicles. The population
of the village has also increased following the development of new
housing and there are more elderly people. There are more visitors
to the area because of local holiday parks and other businesses.
Yet there is no safe place for people to cross the road in the
village.
We believe the solution is to provide a pedestrian crossing.
Perhaps more by good luck than anything else, no-one has been
killed or seriously injured in the village. We are not prepared to
wait until that happens before taking action. We want action now to
prevent such a tragedy.
Lancashire County Council is the responsible authority and they
have the power to provide the solution.
We therefore call on Lancashire County Council to provide a
pedestrian crossing on the A59 in Gisburn village.
This ePetition ran from 21/07/2017 to 01/10/2017 and has now finished.
503 people signed this ePetition.
As a highway authority, we have a finite budget for traffic related schemes and a responsibility to prioritise our resources that best serve the road users in Lancashire. The current priority is to target the limited resources that are available for traffic schemes and other types of traffic control, such as pedestrian crossings, to those locations with proven road safety issues which is determined by significant numbers of injury accidents. Currently the A59 in Gisburn has a good safety record with no recorded collisions involving pedestrians.
The council will however retain this request on record and continue to seek funding opportunities through alternative funding streams or through the planning process and nearby development and will arrange for existing signs and road markings to be inspected to ensure that these are in good condition and clearly legible.