Speech to Transport Committee. Duke Street, Talbot Street, Bernard Street crossing

20th September 2023

I am presenting the petition to Make Talbot Street/Bernard Street/Duke St crossing safe, signed by 228 people.

The traffic lights at Duke Street/Bernard Street/Talbot Street urgently need pedestrian signals. The junction is in close proximity to two health centres, 2 pharmacies, a well-used Salvation Army centre, sheltered housing at Grafton Court, Grace Owen Nursery and Park Hill flats. There is also a popular meeting place which I gather is frequented by many elderly people, known as the Trades and Labour Club! The junction is a massive obstacle on an important walking route to the city centre from the City Road area. Crashmap details 14 accidents between 2011 and 2021, averaging more than one every year. Fortunately only one of these was serious, but it is only a matter of time before someone is killed at this junction. 

This has been a problem for many years. During rush hour there is no safe time to cross the road as there is always a stream of traffic coming from one direction or the other and the configuration of the roads makes it very difficult for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers to view the traffic from every direction.

We need to encourage more active travel in the city, enabling people to walk and cycle more. But this junction is so dangerous it puts people off walking, especially if they are not able to move quickly. An unfortunate effect of the Clean Air Zone is that more lorries and vans are now using the route from the final exit of the Parkway before the charging zone, along Cricket Inn Road,  Bernard Street and Talbot Street to avoid paying the charges. 

It endangers commuters walking or going by bike into town in the mornings and out again at night. And families, young people and children travel to and from school each day.

Car drivers are also at risk at this difficult and dangerous junction as they assume if the lights are green it will be safe to proceed. But they may well be faced with a pedestrian halfway across the road as they come around the bend. Nobody wants to be responsible for the death of a pedestrian. So drivers would also find appropriate road safety measures to their advantage.

The video of the junction was taken over 15 minutes during a morning rush hour. This is typical during any rush hour. It was not edited from lots of footage to make the situation look worse than it is.

Traffic regularly mounts the pavement when approaching the junction from Bernard Street to go left up Duke Street, to avoid traffic having to wait for the lights. 

Traffic going from Bernard Street to Talbot Street often accelerate to make sure they can get through the lights before they change, but due to the bend of the road pedestrians crossing Talbot Street don’t see them coming until they are actually past the traffic lights. 

This is the second time a petition has been collected to appeal for pedestrian lights at this junction, the previous one being in 2014. Since then traffic has got far worse. The reason there aren’t more accidents is simply that pedestrians avoid the area because they know it is too dangerous. In 2023 it really should not be this difficult to cross a road. Please Sheffield City Council, take action now to save lives at this junction.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/make-talbot-street-bernard-street-duke-st-crossing-safe

Sign the petition to make this junction safe for pedestrians

https://sheffieldgreenparty.org.uk/2023/02/28/the-least-pedestrian-friendly-junction-in-sheffield/

https://www.shefnews.co.uk/2023/03/03/city-council-urged-to-make-park-hill-junction-safer-with-new-pedestrian-crossing/

Please help make Talbot Street/Bernard Street/Duke St crossing safe.
byu/Shamefuru-Dispray insheffield

https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/sheffield-city-council-should-install-a-pelican-crossing-at-the-junction-of-duke-street-bernard-street-and-talbot-street.html

26/09/23

A quick update on this. You can see the response I got from Cllr Ben Miskell on the video here. https://sheffield.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/802021

I was not happy with the response and have since written back to the Chair and the local Councillors. I have asked him to show me what action the Manor Castle Councillors have taken on road safety in the ward in the last three years. I see lots of road safety initiatives in other wards but Manor Castle never seems to get funding for anything like this. I am aware that £4 million was allocated to road safety in August 2022 but Manor Castle does not seem to have benefitted from this at all. 

Cllr Miskell says that the Manor Castle Councillors have raised the issue of this junction with him and have been working on a solution. What solution are they proposing and when will it be implemented?

Cllr Miskell says that Paul Blomfield MP has highlighted this issue. I have asked Cllr Miskell to show me the documents when he has done this. I am pleased to hear he is concerned about it but I have not seen any pronouncements from him. But really this is a Council issue, so I don’t think it is necessary to involve him. 

Of course, I do support Cllr Miskell’s call for better Government action on road safety but unfortunately, it is clear that this is not their priority.

Finally, I want to stress my point about accident statistics again. It is not sensible to prioritise road safety improvements solely on accident data, although obviously, this has to be an important factor. The current system is biased against improving junctions like Duke Street/Bernard/Street/Talbot Street which pedestrians know are too dangerous to cross, so avoid them like the plague. The Council should be prioritising safe, integrated walking routes in a joined-up fashion to enable quick and hassle-free walking journies. Would it be possible for the Council to review the policy of how sites for pedestrian crossings are prioritised in order to create joined-up safe walking routes to important locations such as schools and shopping centres?