§ 42. Mr. Sparksasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he is aware of the dangerous location of pedestrian crossings at Gypsy Corner, Western Avenue, Acton; and what steps he proposes to take to remove the crossings to safer positions, in view of the heavy accident rate at this point.
§ Mr. MolsonA number of accidents have taken place near this signal-controlled junction, but I do not think that it would help if we were to shift the pedestrian crossings. I hope the duplication of the western arm of Western Avenue, scheduled to begin next year, will improve matters.
§ Mr. SparksIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the traffic lights controlling east-west and west-east traffic do not synchronise, which causes confusion in the minds of pedestrians wanting to cross the road? Is he also aware that although the pedestrian crossing lights show green, pedestrians very frequently cannot cross because of the heavy traffic filtering from other directions? If he cannot find and provide any other alternative, will he consider the introduction of an all-red phase to give pedestrians a chance to cross the road in safety?
§ Mr. MolsonI am aware that there have been a number of accidents here recently and that it is because the two streams of traffic are not stopped at the same time. The reason for that is to facilitate traffic turning to the right. I will certainly look into the point which the hon. Gentleman has raised, but so far as we have been able to study the matter it is not likely to be put right until we have been able to carry out major road improvements there. In five out of the seven recent accidents the pedestrians did not cross at the lights but some distance from them.