Sheffield Communities Cut in Two by Traffic?

Hillsborough, Sheffield: A friendly shopping street & bustling community, cut in half by motor traffic

With so much talk about closing the roads from time to time in Sheffield in order to allow communities to come together, it prompted me to take a look at my own community, Hillsborough in north Sheffield.

I love Hillsborough, it is friendly, has a good high street, local shops and people will stop you for a chat or give you their opinion! But it was also recently described by a friend of mine as “a pedestrian’s worst nightmare”. Despite my first reaction being to spring to the defence of Hillsborough, once I started thinking about it, I realised he was right.

A mother and children choosing to cross the road here, rather than take a long detour to the pedestrian crossing.

A lady waiting to cross the road to get to the busy bus stop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The heart of Hillsborough is split in two with heavy traffic making it difficult to cross Middlewood Road to go from shop to shop. There are two pedestrian crossings, but they are spread far apart. The result is that most people choose to cross near Hillsborough arcade, approximately 2/3 of the way along. It takes them a long time to cross here, as there isn’t often a break in the traffic, and drivers seem unwilling to give even in an inch in the queue to let people walk across, but it is still quicker than walking the extra distance to the crossing, and then waiting for the cycle to green. I have seen mums with prams and elderly people stuck in the middle of the road because the traffic would rather gain an extra few seconds than let them finish crossing.

Most people want to cross to get to this busy bus stop

Nobody gives an inch in the struggle to get in and out of busy side roads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Armed with no more than a kitchen timer, I set out to investigate. I counted the number of paces between the crossings (walking at a steady pace but not rushing. I am 5’10” tall and have a long stride). I also timed how long each of the two crossings took to change to the ‘green man’, and how long it remained.

Hillsborough for Pedestrians: A lay person’s study

Crossing 2 is the worst culprit, with a staggering amount of time spent waiting and then having to dash across in a measly 6 seconds of ‘green man’. In fact, most people who were waiting to cross whilst I was timing did not wait, and took their chances, dashing across when they judged it was clear.

Time Spent at Crossing 2

“I’ve had enough of this!” A man decides to take his chances.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of this traffic is through-traffic, and is not visiting the shops and local businesses on the highstreet, yet it dominates the area and changes the whole atmosphere of the place. It makes it really hard work to get out and about as a pedestrian, especially if you are elderly or not very mobile. Perhaps there are some clues here as to why some high streets are struggling?

Tram lines are an added hazard for cyclists (but a mum takes advantage of the cyclist’s slow speed to dash across)

Streets should be for the people who live in, and use that community, but more often than not they are simply highways for traffic, where the people who live there and support the local economy coming far down on the scale of priorities for planners. This is something that must change, but at the moment it’s not even on the agenda in Sheffield.

You can do your bit by taking an interest in your own local community & repeating what I’ve done here. All you need is a kitchen timer and a thick enough skin to deal with the odd looks!

Why Shared Used Paths Don’t Work (In One Simple Picture)

Shared use paths: Creating conflict with people walking and normally not safe enough for children to use without eagle-eyed alertness from an accompanying parent.

More Bells Please, We’re British!

A quick post inspired by my ride to work this morning. Leaving at a slightly different time to normal, naturally I was pleased to see so many people riding bikes along the cycle path, more than at my usual time. Normally my main concern on my commute is looking over my shoulder to watch out for cars turning into the frequent side roads along my route, and keeping an eye out for people walking as a lot of the route is basically a pavement with ‘shared use’ signs plonked on it.

However, this morning a swift and silent rider undertook me extremely closely on the approach to a crossing, where I was hanging back as there was a man walking and I wasn’t sure which way he was going to go. It made me jump out of my skin, and I came very close to ‘road rage’. I am always loathe to criticise cyclists, or to add to any of the done-to-death stereotypes, but I really wonder, why are the British so shy about ringing their bells?

Perhaps it’s the perception that bike bell = “Get out of the way!” that means people only use them as a last resort? When I ring mine along a shared use path because I’m approaching a family walking, sometimes the parent will make a grab for their wandering child and scream and them in total panic. This makes me feel bad, because I’m not ringing me bell to say “You’ve got 5 seconds before I run you down.”, I’m doing it to say “Just so you know, I’m here. I’ll pass you if it’s safe.” You should of course always give way to pedestrians on ‘shared use’ paths but a quick ting of the bell is preferable to silently rolling along behind them like a sinister two-wheeled shadow, or even worse, just going for it and charging past regardless.

Better urban design can solve most of the conflict between pedestrians and cyclists, which are mainly caused by lumping us together on poorly designed paths. However if we want to see #space for cycling, we need win hearts and minds, and we won’t do this by creeping up on people. Come on Brits, get a bell, and don’t be afraid to ring it!