Two Accidents at Dangerous Corner

Last year we drew the Council's attention to the extreme danger that exists for pedestrians, particularly children, on the short stretch of road at the top of Washington Road adjacent to the new housing area This very busy area, a bottleneck for all traffic going up Princes Drive, Victoria and Britannia Heights and over Richardson Street to the port, has no footpath and the area where the footpath should be is rough and, for women with prams or pushchairs, unnegotiable. The council evidently took note of our views on the matter, for at a subsequent meeting it decided that it would provide the materials for the laying of such a footpath, if the residents would provide the labour. To date, nothing further has been done and who can blame the residents for doing nothing about this far from magnanimous gesture by the council. And the corner remains The Most Dangerous In Nelson.

This was highlighted last month by two accidents, both of which could have proved serious. In the first, a schoolboy riding to school was forced by traffic to enter the rough shingle area and in doing so he was thrown from his bicycle. He was injured, but not seriously. Then late in the month, a very little boy was brushed by a taxi on the road and knocked over. Again, no injuries, but still no cause for complacency by the Council.

Residents in the area are quite incensed by the attitude of the Council in this matter, and little wonder. In one breath they tell residents - most of them young and hard at it bringing their own new housing block into shape - to do the work of the Council, and in the next it is approving such projects as the widening of the South end of Princes Drive - a road serving less than 20 houses. They see and hear of other streets and roads having new concrete paths laid - not by the residents, but by the Council. And in all these areas where footpaths have been laid, at least the residents have had the benefit of a form of footpath for years. Not so the users of this highly dangerous stretch of road in Washington Road.

What makes the situation in Washington. Road worse is that there is a great tendency for motorists to proceed through this area at too great a speed - especially the motorists descending from the hill. There were few parked cars about when we took the picture above, but even so, the taxi shown was almost forced to a halt to negotiate the little roadway left to it. Imagine what the situation can be like when with cars parked on both sides of the road, and pedestrians using a portion of it, cars travelling in opposite directions meet. At left we publish the pictures of two streets with brand new footpaths - Marsden Road and Andrew Street (bottom), both of Stoke.

The Washington Road job is an urgent one. Certainly not one to be left to residents. And if finance is the problem, might we suggest that the money that is to be used on the Princes Road job be used instead lower down the hill.