Sir, – I agree wholeheartedly with Dave Mathieson (Letters January 18th) when he states that “authorities can’t even be persuaded to protect the strips of space that are specifically designated for use by pedestrians or cyclists from encroachment by motorists”.
This is a daily observation for most pedestrians and cyclists in this country.
The most obvious example of this is junction design; where a junction exists bringing drivers from a housing estate or a road of lesser importance to a main road, junction design in Ireland is inconsistent and haphazard and therefore often dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists.
At such junctions, the white “Stop” line can be placed anywhere from being in line with the inside of the footpath, to being in line with the outside, or even slightly beyond it.
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This ensures that for people using the pavement, they can never be sure that drivers will stop before they get to the space which pedestrians use to cross the road.
Indeed, even where the white line is correctly and safely placed behind this space, drivers will often overshoot it before they stop, causing pedestrians to halt, step around the car to proceed, or collide with it.
Similarly for cyclists, cycle lanes are dangerous for reasons of poor design and drivers’ non-compliance with white lines.
Recent research now demonstrates that drivers are being ever more distracted by various things including superfluous road signage, head-up displays, mobile phones and other drivers.
The old-fashioned but extremely important white line, even when correctly positioned, is often deliberately ignored or goes unseen by drivers and it is pedestrians and cyclists that pay the price for this.
However, at the very least, all junctions should now be examined so that any white stop lines that are placed within the space being used by pedestrians to cross the road are safely repositioned. – Yours, etc,
LIAM O’GRADY,
Knocknacarra,
Galway.