Who cares about pedestrians?

Here, in Germany, cycle-ways on both sides of this road, are protected by safety barriers.

Church Road, Sevington.

This is the most absurd situation imaginable; a bridge of which one half is built to a different specification to the other; not only are pedestrians supposed to walk into a brick wall, but if they continue on ahead, in the road hemmed in by a high brick wall, then they become extremely vulnerable.    Who cares about the plight of pedestrians (and cyclists)?  They obviously don't.

Interests of pedestrians, and cyclists are often ignored.

Sometimes they get it right!

Even though, as in this case (A251 approaching a bridge over the M2), it is not a well used route, and the hedge needs cutting back.

It would appear that with highway design , Their minds are so fixated with catering for motor vehicles, that the interests of pedestrians and cyclists, are often ignored.

This is a street (Silver Hill) which is a one-way street, running into a mini-roundabout .  In their wisdom, Highways incorporated a road-narrowing (Pinch-Point) at the mouth of the roundabout    Kent Highways refused to accept any criticism of their design in this case, but it is clearly not the least bit cycle-friendly, yet it could easily be made so.   This feature remains as it is today.   

Charing Hill.

Traffic frequently travels rather fast down Charing Hill (A252).  The crash-barrier is intended to prevent motor-vehicles, that might just happen to loose control and mount the pavement, from going down an embankment;  BUT woe-betide any pedestrian who might happen to be on the pavement at that spot, at that moment in time.

A barrier should protect pedestrians as a first priority.

Motor vehicles come first.

The A2070 Bad Münstereifel Road (A2070),

  Ashford's southern orbital road .

 Traffic along this road is busy, and often travelling fast.  At this point the barrier does offer a degree of protection for the pedestrian, however it isn't always like that, as the next picture illustrates. 

Why the switch? 

The situation for pedestrians, and cyclists (yes, believe it of not, this is signed as a cycle route!) is much worse all the way to Junction 10 of the M20. 

It is understood that this road was originally the responsibility of Kent Highways as an "A" road, but in recent years it has been taken over by the highways Agency as an Arterial Road.

In the previous picture the path is a follow- on from this next picture, with the A2070 on the right .    

Blue cycle direction signs, and the share-use  (cyclists/pedestrians) sign can be seen on the left of the picture.  The route is not fit for purpose, and some years ago I reported  this to Highways, and I had a meeting with one of their reps on site, who agreed with me, but nothing has been done about it (i.e.: remove the signs or improve the situation).  It seems wrong to me, to direct cyclists down a route that is not safe.   

It is plain to see that the safety of Pedestrians and cyclists has not been given priority.

Principle of Road-Safety barriers

Unsafe, Safety Crash Barriers

Who, or what, are Crash-Barriers designed  to protect?    We are not talking about crash-barriers on Motorways here, but crash barriers on normal "A" roads, or lesser roads.

This barrier (adjacent to an "A" road) offers a degree of protection for pedestrians and cyclists from motor vehicles that might have got out of control, though I fancy it was installed mainly to protect the lamp-posts. [Romney Marsh Road A2042, Ashford].

Whereas this barrier might well prevent out-of-control vehicles from going down an embankment, it actually places pedestrians and cyclists in greater danger, they could be crushed against the barrier by an errant vehicle.   Why wasn't the barrier placed next to the kerb?  Had it been, then pedestrians and cyclists would have a degree of protection, without adversely affecting the safety of motor-vehicles.   There should not be any significant difference in the cost, if any at all.  [Simone-Weil Avenue Ashford]

This is a typical example of how it should be done (on both sides of this road), as seen in Germany. It is protecting pedestrians, cyclists (shared use), and motorists.