Subscribe to RSSWhere Pedestrians Get Bowled
It’s still dangerous being a pedestrian in Auckland.
Police investigating a serious injury crash on Sandringham Rd shortly after 2pm on Sunday are appealing to hear from anyone who witnessed the incident where a young woman was hit when crossing the road near Farrelly Road.
Police have spoken to the driver of the vehicle that hit the woman but are keen to speak to other witnesses, particularly the driver of a brown 4 wheel drive vehicle which was heading away from the city at the time of the crash.
The young woman is in Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition.
And the other day another senior died after being hit by a bus.
Auckland Transport launched a pedestrian safety campaign in Auckland’s CBD with bus shelter ads telling you to watch where you step.
But i wish motorists also watched where they drive.
As a pedestrian i am sick of cars roaring out of driveways without checking if there are pedestrians walking the footpath, cars roaring out of city carparks thinking they rule and to heck with any pedestrians and cars turning from the road into driveways thinking pedestrians will just have to jump out of the way.
I am curious where in the CBD are the worst spots and the worst potential times to be hit.
AT have provided some fascinating info, with the help of an NZTA report.
The worst time for an adult pedestrian to be hit by a car while crossing the road is a Friday in May. But youth pedestrian crashes tend to be more oriented towards the weekdays with a peak mid week.
In the period 2005 to 2009 in terms of Auckland’s pedestrian injuries:
- 41% were at intersections
- 98% on urban roads
- 73% in daytime
- Worst three hour period is between 3pm to 6pm
- Worst month May, best January
- Worst day of week Friday, best Sunday
- Most common crash type: pedestrian is crossing the road and is hit by a vehicle approaching from the right (40% of the total)
- Second most common pedestrian is crossing the road and is hit by vehicle approaching from the left (24%)
Pedestrians dash across as the light countdown counts down
In all 1640 Auckland pedestrians were injured between 2005 and 2009.
The listed pedestrian black crash spots are numerous. It doesn’t leave many other places!
CENTRAL:
- Auckland CBD
- Karangahape Road
- Queen St
- Symonds St
- Central Queen/Mayoral Drive
- Victoria St West
- Lower Albert St
- Lower Queen/Customs St
- Quay St
- Britomart
- Ponsonby Road
- Valley/Dominion Rd, Greenlane/Manukau Rd
- Newmarket Centre
- Mt Roskill Centre
- Mt Albert Centre
- Pt Chevalier Centre
- Royal Oak Centre
- Onehunga Centre
- Avondale Centre,
- Mission Bay
RURAL NORTH:
- Orewa Centre
- Whangaparoa Rd
- Helensville Centre
- Warkworth Centre
- Wellsford Centre
URBAN NORTH:
- Takapuna (Lake Road)
- Birkenhead (Onewa/Makoia Rd)
- Glenfield Rd
- Wairau Road
- Browns Bay
- Devonport
- Milford
SOUTH :
- Pakuranga Centre
- Pakuranga Rd/Bucklands Beach Rd
- Northpark
- Otahuhu Centre
- Old Papatoetoe
- Massey Rd/Mangere East, Papatoetoe/Gt South Rd, Manukau Centre
- Manurewa/Gt South Rd, Massey Rd/Kirkbride Rd
- Roscommon Rd/Weymouth Rd
- Papakura Centre
- Pukekohe Centre
WEST:
- Lincoln Road
- New Lynn Centre
- Henderson Centre
- West Coast Road/Glen Eden
- Great North Road/Kelston
Age-wise, 10 to 20 year olds despite their fitness levels are more vulnerable to be bowled than oldies.
And the NZTA report gives more on causes:
13 Comments
Yesterday I almost got hit by a brown 4WD too while crossing the street. It’s amazing how some people drive. I’m always very weary crossing the street (for a reason) and while crossing straight on a side street I noticed no cars turning and almost reached the other side of the street when all of a sudden this idiot decided to turn from the middle lane of the road - indicating for a whole half-second after having started his turn - almost knocking me and the missus of our feet… we had to run actually…
Some people are just idiots who need to be educated - they probably can’t grasp how this would hurt a pedestrian as they probably only walk the short trip to and from their cars, never crossing a street because they would’ve parked their cars right in front of their destination… Idiots I say. Rant over.
Also can’t count the number of near-misses with cars suddenly appearing out of driveways at high speed - the drivers always have their heads turned towards the right the whole time to look for cars approaching on the road, so maybe I should start walking on footpaths on the left side of the road only so as to finally get noticed…? Ridiculous…
Something I think is very dangerous are the noises made by the pedestrian crossing phases. Often you hear the noise for the adjacent crossing and think it’s you - and plunge out. My 7 year old daughter nearly got run over doing that on Park Road the other day.
Not sure how you fix it, but definitely a safety issue. So often I see people take a step or two when they near the sound, before realising it’s not for them.
Yeah the “phase noises” is an issue. Had to literally pull a woman back onto the footpath one time because she started to walk out in front of approaching vehicles. You see people starting to move when the sound’s playing all the time - sometimes entertaining to see how they subtly twitch, realise and hold back.
Anyways, haven’t met this problem overseas in the Netherlands where there are also “phase noises”. Unfortunately can’t remember what they’re like. Maybe there’s an example somewhere on YouTube…
Ah here’s a (funny) example:
“Phase noise”. The volume seems to be lower than over here and the start of it is not as sudden.
I’m surprised more people aren’t being run over in central Auckland. I drive around there a lot and pedestrians seem oblivious to cars. They just walk out in front of you and give you dirty looks for daring to go on a green light.
It goes both ways doesn’t it. Both drivers and pedestrians should take care. But why launch a campaign only targeting one party? That’s what’s puzzling me tbh.
I always try to be as safe as possible when crossing - better safe than sorry - but as long as there’s drivers out there with such a blatant disregard for pedestrians’ safety, I still run huge risks just walking around the city. Why not target them too with a campaign? It goes both ways.
Sorry about the amount of useless comments here by the way, but this is a subject that really concerns me as I walk to get around the city most of the time…
Given that the audible indicator is for the vision-impaired, anyone who relies on it ought to be taking the same degree of care as those for whom it is intended. Which means standing next to the push-button for the crossing you intend to use.
I have no sympathy whatsoever for people with adequate vision who get “tricked” by the audible indicators. We can see, make use of it!
I’m hearing you on drivers leaving driveways. As a jogger I frequently have to leap out of the way of cars. Worse are the idiots who park on or across footpaths.
Part of the problem is that a lot of drives are bordered right up to the footpath making peripheral vision non existent.
Having said that Queen Street CBD would have the most user friendly pedestrian crossings in NZ but still people jay walk nonchalantly across the road in front of traffic as if they are bullet proof.
Orange - it could be worse, we could have absolute s**t like this:
http://talesoftheroad.direct.gov.uk/
Pisses me off that governments and organisations continually keep targeting the china rather than the bull.
Why is it that only countries like Holland seem to get it right - that if you’re in a peice of heavy machinery, you’ve got to treat it as such and look out for those around you.
I HATE transport safety campaigns that target pedestrian and cyclist behaviour only. I hate them because I see them as being a bit like campaigns that try and stop sexual violence by telling girls to dress more modestly. They place (implicitly) the blame on the victim.
The real culprit is neither the pedestrian nor the motorist. It is the government which has failed to provide us with the infrastructure or legislation needed to help pedestrians move around our cities safely.
Given that the audible indicator is for the vision-impaired, anyone who relies on it ought to be taking the same degree of care as those for whom it is intended. Which means standing next to the push-button for the crossing you intend to use.
I have absolute sympathy for people tricked by them.
Just because these are for the vision impaired, doesn’t mean that everyone else doesn’t also find themselves relying on them as a signal to cross. They shouldn’t, but they do. They’re loud, and not at all directional. It takes conscious effort to ignore them - and until education campaigns are run, I’ll expect people to use them, wrongly. People don’t realise that their only purpose is for the visually impaired. I didn’t, until I was told, and then had to make a conscious effort not to use them as an indicator. It was quite hard, for quite a while, since it was so ingrained in my subconscious - I had been using the sound since I was literally a young child.
By far the most dangerous place I know is walking along Federal Street where you have to cross Wellesley Street West. It is bad enough when driving, but completely unsafe for pedestrians as they have not been allowed for at all. It’s a shame it has been left unsafe like this for years (if not decades).
Other dangerous spots:
— Mayoral Drive, crossing the back Aotea car park entrance (cars turning right into it tend not to give way). Even getting onto the crossing island at the intersection with Vincent Street is dangerous because of the width of that lane and how fast cars take it. Does it need to be designed as if it is a motorway approach, or could it be scaled down and made more safe?
— Crossing the Wilson and Tournament car park exits onto Albert Street is also dangerous because drivers looking at traffic (not for pedestrians) and visibility is bad
— Crossing Tangihua Street and around the Countdown car park entrance/exits
— Crossing Hobson Street. I notice pedestrians regularly having to run for their lives getting to the other side. I’ve noticed an increase in this over the years, with all the new apartments and shops that have been put in. The councils haven’t done anything yet to move with the times and make it safe for people outside cars
— Tamaki Drive, especially the 4 lane highway part
— Ponsonby Rd
The worst part about Ponsonby Road is the fact nobody adheres to the 40km speed limit. I wonder if the Police have ever enforced this, or the 30km limit on Queen Street? Why not have a zero tolerance on these lower speed zones, so people pay attention?