Pedestrian crossing campaigner claims disabled woman has to get bus to cross busy Airdrie road

James Cassidy has been campaigning for pedestrian crossings on Alexander St in Airdrie and Locks Street in Coatbridge

A woman with mobility issues has to get a bus to cross a busy Airdrie road.

That's the claims of one campaigner who is determined to see more pedestrian crossings in the area.

James Cassidy, 52, has been campaigning for two new crossings in North Lanarkshire, one on Alexander Street in Airdrie and Locks Street in Coatbridge.

The railway worker claims that these roads are a safety hazard for people to cross, and has contacted local councillors about introducing pedestrian crossings.

James told Lanarkshire Live: “In the case of Alexander Street, I'm now informed it has been put on a list of sites which do not meet North Lanarkshire Council's (NLC) criteria for becoming a priority, but which may be considered for a traffic island if funding becomes available in the next budgetary year.

"There is no hint as to how long this list is or where on the list this site is. As for Locks Street, it is not under consideration at this time, according to the Transport Engineering Department.

“I could see that the views of the community are not sought at any point in this process, and that community considerations only come into play at stage two of the NLC policy for the Prioritisation of Road Safety Improvements - which cannot be reached without some level of accident or fatality. It is totally backward.

“From looking at the triggering factors to reach Stage one, if a road were to have more than 50 percent of all traffic speeding during the survey period, then this would only achieve 40 points.

"More than 50 percent could be as high as 100 percent and does not take into account how far above the speed limit the vehicles are travelling.

“One woman told us that because of her mobility issues she cannot cross Alexander Street, and is having to get a bus to Monklands Hospital, which goes round and then comes back up Alexander Street, all so she could get off on the other side of the road.

“There must surely be a point where the will of the public must be given greater weight, and where the accident-based criteria can be bypassed.”

James, who is part of NLC’s Access Forum, has claimed that the Council only cares about the financial aspect of introducing new crossings and not safety.

He said: “It seems that where NLC can off-load the cost of safe crossing points onto a developer, this is done with no need to meet the accident-based criteria, but is instead implemented on the basis of good design.

“It is disappointing that NLC does not treat all requests with the same merit, but has adopted a prohibitive system designed to weed out most applications.

“If you look at the likes of the new Lidl in Airdrie, they had to put in two new pedestrian crossings where there had been possibly no accidents. The Council is making new criteria when there is somebody else paying for it.

“It is a purely financial decision and has nothing to do with safety. If you look at the number of people there trying to cross, you could see it warrants a crossing.

“On Locke street, they say there are not enough people using it, but that is because people will be avoiding it, because of how dangerous it is.”

A NLC spokesman told us: “We receive over 300 requests every year for traffic calming and pedestrian crossings but, with a limited budget, are only able to progress a small number of projects each year.

"The requests at Locks Street and Alexander Street were considered against both assessment frameworks and are not high priority for signalised pedestrian crossings. The impact of a new development on the surrounding road network, including road safety considerations, is assessed as part of the planning application process.

"If required, the developer will be asked to make any necessary improvements.”

To support James' campaign, click here

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