Brisbane City Council scrambles two Albert St intersections

Pedestrians can now “scramble” any which way across two major intersections in the Brisbane CBD under a city council push to improve safety.

PEDESTRIANS can now “scramble” any which way across two major intersections in the Brisbane CBD under a city council push to improve safety.

The lights at the intersections of Albert St and Charlotte St and Albert St and Mary St have been reconfigured as scramble crossings.

It comes after the council released horrifying footage of near misses at crossings across the city on Tuesday.

Speed limits slashed

$200 pedestrian fine push

Infrastructure chairman Amanda Cooper said the change would help alleviate pedestrians’ impatience waiting for the lights to change.

“International research says about 26 seconds and above and people will start making decisions that are, perhaps, poor decisions,” she said.

Sign for new scramble crossing at Albert St and Charlotte St, Brisbane CBD. Picture: Ellen-Maree Elliot

She said it was among the first actions to come out of the council’s Move Safe report and more were on the way.

However, she refused to “put a price on people’s lives” when asked about the cost of the pedestrians safety improvements.

The Labor opposition public and active transport spokesman Jared Cassidy said the council needed to reduce the speed limit to 30km/h and make space for cycling and pedestrians.

“If you want to stop the accidents and the near-misses, slow down the cars and give pedestrians and cyclists the space they deserve.”

He said the scramble crossings were a “good step” but it was just tinkering around the edges and instead they should take real action, like turning Albert St into a pedestrian mall.