THE SAFETY of Worcester’s pedestrianised streets is set to be reviewed after a number of residents said they felt in danger of being hit by a large vehicle in the city centre.
Sylvia Russell, 69, was killed when she was knocked down by a bin truck outside Argos in the Shambles last September.
The tragic incident led to calls from Coun Joy Squires for tough restrictions on times vehicles can enter pedestrianised zones as drivers are currently banned between 10.30am and 4.30pm.
At a full council meeting on Tuesday, February 24, all councillors voted in favour of the Coun Squires’ motion, which will now see Duncan Sharkey, managing director of Worcester City Council, write a letter to Worcestershire County Council asking whether any new measures could be put in place to tackle the problem.
The motion follows a survey carried out by Coun Squires which found out that 70 per cent of the people asked wanted to see a change of the vehicle access times, while just under half of the respondents said they felt pedestrianised areas were dangerous.
The Labour councillor also said that many of the people who completed the survey and commented on her Facebook page gave examples of ‘near misses’.
“At the end of January, Twitter and Facebook were buzzing with a video of a large lorry reversing the wrong way down Broad Street to make a delivery with nobody guiding them,” she said.
“I am also told that on a recent city centre walkabout a senior officer of this council had to have a word with the driver of a lorry that was similarly reversing the wrong way down a one-way street to gain access with no chance of seeing any pedestrians going behind them.
“There is a very uneasy and unsafe mix of pedestrians and traffic in our pedestrianised streets. I believe it is time to tackle this issue and make Worcester a safer and more pleasant city for us all.”
Coun Simon Geraghty, leader of Worcester City Council, backed Coun Squires’ calls as he admitted the shock of Miss Russell’s death was ‘palpable’.
“When tragic incidents occur I think it is right to reflect and ensure that the arrangements in place are appropriate,” he said.
“I think this matter is above personalities and politics. We all want to ensure that we have a safe environment in the heart of our city centre.”
But Coun Paul Denham said he felt the situation went beyond what the council was capable of doing and believed they needed to look at creating ‘physical barriers’ to stop vehicle entering pedestrianised areas.
“I actually think that it’s outrageous that large vehicles can reverse without anybody to actually guide them, so what we need is national legislation to change that to ensure that this can’t happen in the future,” he added.
