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We’re well into the Braidwood’s busy season so it might be time to talk about the two main street pedestrian crossings. According to Facebook there have been some recent near misses and it has generated quite a bit of chatter.
The crossing between the bank and the National Theatre came about as a result of effective lobbying by the Braidwood Region Seniors Association in 2013. After the opening of the Community Bank, the expansion of the bakery and increased weekend activity at the National Theatre, the pedestrian traffic across the highway had become problematic.
Children, the elderly and the less mobile were risking life and limb standing between parked cars and waiting for the chance for a dash through the occasional break in the traffic going both ways.
The RMS did not, and still does not, support zebra crossings on the grounds that it places the onus of collision avoidance on the driver in the hard metal capsule rather than on the soft and vulnerable pedestrian. It was only the fact that we already had a zebra crossing at the Royal Mail corner that helped us get our second crossing.
The zebra crossing at the National Theatre is part of the pedestrian amenity of Braidwood, of great benefit to locals and tourists alike. If drivers are failing in their responsibility to watch out for people crossing then we need to add lights or bumps to alert them. We also need to take care ourselves and teach children to never trust a car until it stops.
But let’s not give the RMS a chance to say, “told you so” and take away our zebra crossings.
Paul Cockram
