Jaywalking By-law Plan for Chiswick High Road
Measure aims to guarantee safety of Cycle Superhighway 9
Plans have been revealed for a new by-law which will make jaywalking an offence on Chiswick High Road after the introduction of the segregated cycle highway.
The consultation exercise recently held by TfL saw concerns raised about a possible increase in the number of collisions between cyclists and pedestrians at locations where the cycle track runs close to the remaining pavement or at crossing points.
It has therefore been proposed to reintroduce the offence of jaywalking as a local by-law to encourage pedestrians to use designated crossings and not to wander onto the cycle path. As well as increasing safety the measure aims to insure the steady flow of bikes along the track.
An increase in collisions is anticipated because pedestrians will take time to get used to the two way flow of the cycle track and, although it will be clearly delineated with a dropped kerb, it is feared that pedestrians might be tempted to use the track if the pavement area becomes crowded.
There is also concern that revellers at local pubs near the route such as the Packhorse and Talbot and the George IV might wander across the track after closing time and therefore it is proposed that restrictions operate on a 24 hour basis.
Avril Amadan, transport imagineer at Icann-Tublivit, a consultancy that is working with TfL on the project said, “CS9 is all about safety and it would make no sense to transfer risk from cyclist to pedestrians so people in Chiswick need to be discouraged from being a risk to themselves and cyclists using the route. As well as increasing safety the measure will create a new earning stream for TfL which will be reinvested in improving transport for Londoners.”
Non-compliance with the by-law would be subject to a penalty charge notice (PCN) which it is proposed would be £60 initially reduced to £30 if you paid within two weeks. Monitoring of the track would be done with CCTV equipped with facial recognition technology. Testing with data harvested by Facebook shows that 99.7% of faces are correctly identified by the cameras. Due to data protection regulations the information from these cameras can only be used to tackle jaywalking and not for other purposes such as capturing wanted criminals or combatting terrorism.
In the initial stage it is not proposed to fine first offenders and the cameras will be equipped with loudspeakers which will ‘name and shame’ anyone captured walking on the track. To ensure the scheme doesn’t become unpopular there will be the option to wear a baseball cap with a road safety message for future visits to the High Road in lieu of a PCN. Offenders will also be giving the option of attending a course on the safe use of pavements as an alternative to paying the PCN. Parents and guardians will be deemed liable for any infractions committed by their children although there will be a discounted ‘child rate’ for any fines. However persistent offending may be considered child endangerment and is likely to be referred to social services.
Ms Amadan told this site, “The software that will be used is state of the art facial recognition technology with built in artificial intelligence. For instance should a funeral be in progress outside the local Church, it will detect that people have sad faces, so if any of the mourners or the pall bearers walk across the cycle track the loudspeaker broadcast of their names will be switched off and they will be notified later by post of their PCN. The system will append a short note of condolence to the accompanying letter. “
Other measures were considered as part of the road safety objective of the scheme but were ruled out as impractical. These included having pressure pads at the edge of the track which delivered a mild electric shock when stepped on and having four foot Perspex barriers along the length of the track which would have used building techniques developed by contractors currently working on the wall between the US and Mexico.
A public consultation exercise was held recently on the plan publicised by a notice in the Chronicle and Informer Newspaper last month. As no objections were received the scheme is now moving to the detailed planning stage with £30 million expected to be allocated to allow completion in time for the opening of the Superhighway.
Ms Amadan concluded, “It’s a shame Chiswick police station was closed. But for that Chiswick High Road would have become one of the safest streets in the world. A least muggers’ getaways will be slowed down by them having to cross the road at the correct place. Unless, of course, if they wear masks.”
April 1, 2018
