Pedestrians mostly to blame for 57 accidents on central city thoroughfare in past five years
Wednesday, 10 July 2019
Wellingtonians love to jaywalk, but they may be inclined to think twice after seeing the city's pedestrian accident rates.
Wellington City Council figures show more than 60 pedestrians were injured on Wellington's Golden Mile in the past five years, with almost 50 accidents involving people not paying attention when crossing the road.
Of the 57 accidents in which one or more people were injured, pedestrians were at least partly to blame in 48 of them.
Paul Barker, the council's network improvements manager, said the majority of those involved people not looking before stepping out onto the road.
**READ MORE:
* Multibillion-dollar transport fix
* 20-year transport plan revealed**
Others may have looked the wrong way, or crossed on a red light, Barker said.
With road conditions and wet weather barely a factor - 49 of the accidents occurred in dry conditions - Barker acknowledged there were improvements the council could make.
The problem was first addressed when Venessa Green was killed after a bus collided with her on Willis St in 2011, and will be in the spotlight again as plans progress to remove private vehicles from much of the Golden Mile as part of the Let's Get Wellington Moving plan.
That will result in priority bus lanes on the stretch of road running from Wellington Railway Station along Lambton Quay, Willis St, Manners St, and Courtenay Place, as well as improvements for pedestrians and cyclists.
A similar scheme introduced on a section of Manners St in 2011, in which the road was converted into bus-only lanes, has coincided with at least 10 bus and pedestrian collisions, including one last week.
'There have been a lot of learnings out of Manners St,' Barker said.
'We've got a lot better understanding of some of the issues that we have to deal with. We can get smarter about how we define the edges of the footpath.'
One way of doing that was placing obstacles, such as seats and plants, near the kerb, as had been done on the section of Willis St where Green was killed.
The council also wanted to promote 'active looking' among pedestrians.
Of the 57 accidents, 20 involved cars and 26 involved buses. There were 18 accidents in which a driver was at least partly to blame.
A Let's Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) spokesman said it had not yet been determined how the road would be designed to accommodate both buses and pedestrians.
'Improved safety will be a key factor and a required outcome of any design.'
But Wellington Mayor Justin Lester, who has pledged to remove traffic from most of the Golden Mile within two years, said he had no concerns for pedestrian safety under the new design.
It was futile to compare changes on Manners St with those proposed for a road like Lambton Quay, which would have wider footpaths and clearly separated bus lanes and walkways.
'It's a completely different situation. Manners St went from being fully pedestrianised to having buses running down the middle of it. We are not doing that with Lambton Quay.
'And Lambton Quay is much wider as well. Manners St is much, much tighter. You can't compare them.'
PEDESTRIANS ON GOLDEN MILE
57 accidents between 2014 and 2018
18 serious injuries, 43 minor injuries
pedestrian faults a factor in 48 accidents
driver faults a factor in 18 accidents
49 accidents occurred in dry weather
WHAT IS JAYWALKING?
There is no law against jaywalking most of the time, but there are rules around how and where you cross the road.
If within 20 metres of a controlled crossing, pedestrians must use it to cross the road. They must also stay on the footpath, and cross at right angles rather than diagonally.
There is a maximum $35 penalty for breaking the rules.