'Ghost' pedestrian crossing in Kildare is criticised
Waiting times for pedestrians to cross a busy route in Naas have come under fire.
Local politician Bill Clear asked if the crossing near the Tesco store, off Monread Road “complies with crossing times guidelines for pedestrians.”
He said there appears to be excessively long wait times for pedestrians “which is leading to so called ghost crossings.”
He claimed that the crossing cane present a risk for children
Cllr Clear criticised the location of the crossing, claiming it should have been sited at the nearby roundabout.
A Naas Municipal District Meeting was told that the pelican crossing there is demand dependent.
This means when the push button unit is activated a demand for the pedestrian crossing stage is registered with the controller.
If there is no traffic present the green man signal will appear within a few seconds, if continuous traffic is present on the carriageway the traffic stage will run to a maximum of approximately 35 seconds. Therefore, the pedestrian ‘wait’ times can vary depending on the conditions at the time of day.
The meeting also heard that all of KCC’s signal controlled pedestrian crossings are fitted with motion vehicle detectors which enable the traffic controller to detect the presence of vehicles, allowing for safer crossing for pedestrians and providing improved traffic flows at busy locations.