Melbourne’s most dangerous pedestrians crossings

BEING too close to traffic and not having enough time to cross the road are some of Melbourne pedestrians’ city crossing pet peeves. See our list of Melbourne’s most dangerous.

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A LACK of safe crossings is the top concern for Melbourne pedestrians.

Other concerns walkers have identified in a wideranging survey include drivers failing to give way when ­turning, traffic moving too fast, problems with footpaths and long waits for green crossing men or not allowing enough time to cross.

The narrow Arthurton Rd bridge in Brunswick East, ­forcing walkers and cyclists too close to vehicles, has been voted Melbourne’s most worrying ­location for walkers.

Busy morning pedestrian traffic on the northeast corner of Collins and Spencer streets. Picture: Hamish Blair

Commuters cross Spencer St from Southern Cross Station. Picture: Hamish Blair

Bikes going too fast in the shared space along Southbank Promenade, not enough time to cross between Flinders St station and Federation Square, and overcrowded and blocked footpaths outside Southern Cross Station are all included in the top 10 biggest pedestrian concerns.

Victoria Walks chief executive Ben Rossiter said more than 1600 people took part in the WalkSpot project.

“That people eagerly contributed and indicated their concerns indicates that we have quite a way to go to make Melbourne safer for walking,” Dr Rossiter said.

“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.

“They are not satisfied with ordinary, they want to prioritise pedestrian safety on the road network.”

Dr Rossiter said the top rated “safe” spots were a ringing endorsement for places where pedestrians are given priority over cars

“The research found that walkers clearly want to see more intersections like ­Flinders and Elizabeth streets, where traffic lights stop all ­vehicles and people can cross in any direction, and places like the Bourke St Mall.”

The pedestrian crossing between Flinders and Elizabeth streets, where people can cross in all directions. Picture: Alex Coppel.

The pedestrian crossing between Flinders and Elizabeth streets is one of the city’s busiest crossings. Picture: Alex Coppel.

The pedestrian crossing between Flinders and Elizabeth streets. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Anthony Aisenberg, Director of CrowdSpot, the company that designed WalkSpot, says its research compared the spots with the most concern against official crash statistics.

“Some unsafe WalkSpot ­locations have a crash history, but most don’t,” Mr Aisenberg said. “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.”

Victoria Walks, CrowdSpot and government partners asked pedestrians to record their walking safety concerns through an interactive online WalkSpot map.

VicRoads, the City of Melbourne and 13 other metropolitan councils supported the project.

The10 locations that attracted most pedestrian concern.

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