The awful accident at the junction of the Bourg Bridge may not turn out to be due to the design of the road, but that does not mean that the new junction is safe, the design of the ring-road encourages drivers to go as fast as they can between sets of lights, there are so many of them that if you can risk just 1 set of lights on amber you can really cut your journey time, that is the mindset of drivers using the road.

To read more about the accident click on http://bit.ly/84RO0i

The idea that this junction can be called “shared space” is simply ludicrous, the idea of shared space is that cars and pedestrians share the space, barriers and division between cars and pedestrians are removed, reducing the certainty in drivers minds hopefully making them more cautious, but because the Bourg junction is a duel carriageway shared space simply cannot work, there are not enough pedestrians about to catch the eye of the driver, the speeds are too high and the road just does not lend its self to being shared space, for more info on shared space have a look at http://bit.ly/134szi

Liberal Democrat Councillors have been trying to get Bucks CC to accept that there are problems at the junction, a document was submitted to Bucks CC on the issue in summer 2009, I have seen several near misses & people racing each other around the ring road, the design is so minimalist and “cool” that anyone with a disability, particularly a sight disability cannot work out where they are, if they get stuck in the middle there is no obvious division so pedestrians do not know if they are in a safe place, there is no noise at the crossing so that sense is removed, in short this is a great junction for those who’s bodies are perfect, there is not even a footpath for pedestrians coming off of the bridge and wish to catch a bus near Morrisons, so people walk in the road.

Bucks CCs response was shameful, the document was submitted to a meeting of an group called the Greater Aylesbury Local Area Forum (GALAF), County, District and Parish councils talking to each other,  they received the paper in plenty of time, but the officer hadn’t bothered to read it, and dismissed all of our concerns as if we are idiots not fit to question and waste the time of BCC officers, this accident I feel proves that councillors and not BCC may well be right about the safety of the Bourg junction, in my view it is not safe and measures must be put into place to reduce speeds and improve safety for pedestrians, we’ll see if the Tories finally agree.

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