Donegal County Council has urged drives to slow down when approaching the pedestrian crossings in the Twin Towns.
The High Visibility Crossings (HVC) were installed last year at four existing courtesy pedestrian crossings in Ballybofey and Stranorlar.
A recent amendment to The Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulation 1997, makes provision for the use of a new crossing ‘zebra crossing without beacons’, consisting of the road markings only.
“These new road markings have been introduced in an urban setting to help improve driver awareness of pedestrian crossing movements,” a council spokesperson said.
“As a driver you should allow pedestrians to cross in an urban area. As you approach any pedestrian crossing you should slow down and prepare to stop to allow the pedestrian to safely cross. The new High Visibility Crossing markings should be used by drivers to anticipate potential pedestrian crossing maneuvers on the street ahead of them.”
The Ballybofey crossing locations.
The spokesperson added that pedestrians should behave as they would at a Zebra Crossing and should always observe approaching traffic before proceeding to cross.
Mr Brian O’Donnell, the council’s Road Safety Officer said that, since the installation of the crossings, they have carried out a review survey.
“From the feedback received, the crossings appear to be well received by the community and seem to be working well but we believe public awareness on the use of the crossings is critical to facilitate their use,” he said.
Stranorlar crossing locations.
It is important to note that vehicles do not have automatic right of way on the road, so to avoid any doubt and in the interest of safety, a vehicle should always yield to pedestrians.
“Drivers should always be courteous to pedestrians using an uncontrolled crossing and pedestrians should always ensure that they wait for a gap in traffic and cross only when it is safe to do so.”
Any concerns or queries may be directed to info@tii.ie quoting Ballybofey/Stranorlar Pedestrian Crossings so that it can be directed to the relevant section within TII.
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