WalkSpot survey reveals the 15 Melbourne places pedestrians feel unsafe
PEDESTRIANS have named the most dangerous crossings in Melbourne, and a small bridge in Brunswick East tops the list.
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PEDESTRIANS have named the most dangerous crossings in Melbourne.
Victoria Walks, Crowdspot, VicRoads and 14 councils encouraged people to record their concerns through an online, interactive map called WalkSpot.
More than 1650 Melburnians responded, raising issues such as drivers failing to give way when turning, fast traffic, unsafe footpaths and a lack of pedestrian crossings.
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The Arthurton Rd bridge in Brunswick East was voted the least safe location for being a narrow path with no protection for walkers from traffic crossing the bridge.
“Creepy people” loitering on Box Hill’s Main St had pedestrians feeling unsafe, and earning the area the second highest number of votes.
The lack of a safe footpath between the Racecourse Rd tram stop and entrance to Newmarket Plaza in Flemington earned the spot enough “votes” to come in third.
Victoria Walks executive officer Ben Rossiter said there had been an amazing response to the project.
“Interestingly some of the top unsafe spots were very localised with no recorded official crashes which suggests that some people are campaigning to make their neighbourhoods even better for walking, which is great,” Dr Rossiter said.
“They are not satisfied with the ordinary and they want to prioritise pedestrian safety on their road network.”
Anthony Aisenberg, director of Crowdspot which designed the interactive map, said they had compared the spots listed with official crash statistics.
“Some unsafe WalkSpot locations have a crash history, but most don’t. This demonstrates that the places of concern to people aren’t necessarily showing up in the crash statistics that government agencies tend to rely on,” Mr Aisenberg said.
Dr Rossiter said the research found pedestrians wanted to see more crossings similar to the intersection at Finders and Elizabeth streets — where traffic lights stop all vehicles and people can cross in any direction — and Bourke St Mall.
TOP 10 UNSAFE SPOTS
1. The narrow Arthurton Rd bridge in Brunswick East, forcing walkers and cyclists close to vehicles
2. Anti-social behaviour on Main St, Box Hill
3. A missing footpath between the tram stop and shops at Flemington’s Newmarket Plaza
4. Bikes going too fast in the shared space along Southbank Promenade
5. No footpath near the intersection of Police and Stud roads, Rowville
6. The dark and unsafe underpass at Bank St and Station St Box Hill
7. Not enough time to cross at the traffic signals between Flinders Street Station and Federation Square
8. Overcrowded and blocked crossings and footpaths outside Southern Cross Station at the intersection of Spencer and Collins streets in the city
9. Poor tram stop design and overcrowding of Spencer and Bourke streets in the CBD
10. Lack of crossing facilities on a popular walk to school route, Derby and Mitchell streets in Northcote
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