No zebra crossing: 'Slight uncertainty' makes Whanganui intersection safer

The new directional tiles and signage at Taupo Quay and Drews Ave. Photo / Bevan Conley

Crossings will not be installed at the intersection of Taupo Quay and Drews Ave with a Whanganui District Council roading engineer saying a little bit of uncertainty can help pedestrian safety.

Directional tactile pavers and signs have been installed at the intersection to improve pedestrian safety along with eight signs that read 'pedestrians give way to vehicles, cross with care'.

But council's senior roading engineer Brent Holmes told the infrastructure committee that consultants had worked on the safety report and recommended against installing pedestrian zebra crossings at the four corners of the intersection.

Councillor Hadleigh Reid, who previously proposed extending the existing raised platform by five metres each side, asked where was safer to cross.

Holmes said it was where people currently crossed, on the edge of the current raised platform.

"Simply because you look down the line you've got clear sight lines of pedestrians walking through," he said.

"In this particular case, to the outside of the quadrant you're inside the confines of the building line so you can be seen, if you go five metres outside that you can't necessarily be seen.

"It's a perception thing. It feels wrong because you're in the intersection but statistically it works because it can be clearly seen."

Reid asked if some level of confusion made crossing safer.

"Absolutely," Holmes said. "It's the concept that pedestrians don't have right of way but a vehicle driver does not feel they're necessarily in the right place on the road.

"It's that situation of slight uncertainty that actually makes the situation more certain.

Whanganui district council's senior roading engineer Brent Holmes.

"If you're not 100 per cent sure who has right of way, you look at each other and it's a nod or a wave that someone can go first."

Councillor Murray Cleveland suggested an option could be to close the block on Saturdays when most issues occurred.

Councillor Rob Vinsen was not so certain about the advice.

Councillor Hadleigh Reid.

"We hear all these issues about safety and five metres back means you can't see, but if you have a look outside the Rutland Hotel the pedestrian crossing is approximately five metres back from the roundabout," he said.

"I think the minor improvements have gone a certain way towards satisfying the situation, but I don't think it's over. I think there will be a change of mind and some zebra crossing lines will simply be painted on a single crossing across Taupo Quay."