Boy's plea for pelican crossing to be installed in his Derbyshire village is backed by parish councillors

11 year old Olly Bower from Tupton has become the voice of the young people of the village after penning a letter to the council, requesting that traffic lights are placed on the crossing outside Tupton primary school on Queen Victoria Road.

Olly was prompted to write the letter after another young boy was hit by a car whilst using the crossing, leaving him with significant injuries in January.

Wanting to write the letter, Olly’s mother Natasha contacted Cllr Ross Shipman asking for support and the best way to contact the relevant department at County Hall.

In his letter, Olly spoke on behalf of himself and other young people from the village who do not feel safe when using the crossing outside the school.

The inspirational boy also offered to do his own fundraising to pay for the installation of lights at the crossing, but the approximate costs would mean fundraising a lot of money.

Tupton parish councillor, Ross Shipman said: “I'm really proud of Olly, and I’m sure his family are too. I would like to thank him on behalf of all our Councillors for taking the time to write this letter to improve road safety in our village, so that another accident doesn’t happen again at this crossing.”

Olly’s letter was raised at the next parish council meeting, where the Parish Councillors agreed to write and send their own letter to the County Council alongside Olly's.

Cllr Shipman said: "Tupton Parish Councillors fully support the request from one of our local residents to have this crossing changed from a Zebra Crossing to a Pelican Crossing to enhance safety at this crossing point near one of our local schools.

"Derbyshire County Council have regularly told us in the past that road traffic accident stats do not support investing in safer measures to protect our residents when we have proactively attempted to lobby for road safety improvements in our area, but then when accidents do happen, those in their ivory tower at County Hall proceed to ignore them."

The parish Council received a response from the DCC’s cabinet member for highways assets and transport, Cllr Charlotte Cupit.

In her response, Cllr Cupit, said: “Officers have been in contact with Derbyshire Constabulary to find out the circumstances involved in the recent collision. They have reported that the pedestrian looked to their right but not to their left as they crossed the road at the crossing, resulting in them being struck by a vehicle fortunately travelling at very low speed.

“I understand that their injuries were not serious, but I know how awful this is and how distressing this must have been, so I hope they make a full recovery soon.”

Although Cllr Cupit made a request to the officers for the crossing to be changed to a signal-controlled one, the current zebra crossing would be considered “the safer option”. This is due to national advice which states that “caution should be exercised when considering light-controlled crossings on roads with fluctuating pedestrian crossing numbers.”

She said: “A zebra crossing is therefore considered the safer option in such fluctuating flows which take place at locations near the school.”

Officers have confirmed that an order for the installation of warning signs for the zebra crossing on Green Lane has been issued to the contracting division.

Cllr Charlotte Cupit said: “We don’t have a date for this but I will chase it until installed. I will also continue to push for a signalised crossing to be kept under review, and I am happy to contact the local police to ask for them to carry out some patrols/enforcement in this area in relation to vehicles not stopping at the crossing if you think that would be helpful.”

When approached for further comment, the County Council declined to add anything to the initial response they gave to Tupton Parish Council.

Tupton Parish council have said that they are disappointed with the DCC’s response.

Cllr Shipman said: “To me, the reasons Cllr Cupit gives for not supporting such a request is exactly why a pelican crossing would be more suited to this location than a zebra crossing, as it makes it very clear whether the driver has right of way or the pedestrian.

"It also really concerns me that Cllr Cupit seems to ignore what the highway code says on Zebra Crossings, it is explicit when it says drivers and riders should give way to pedestrians waiting to cross and must give way to pedestrians on a zebra crossing, however the cabinet member for highways seems to lay the blame on the child who was hit by the car for not looking both ways.”

The parish council argues that the preference for zebra crossings in areas with fluctuating pedestrian numbers is not particularly relevant in this case.

With approximately 200 homes housing residents on the northern side of Queens Street wanting to access shops, the pharmacy, village hub and other village amenities on the other side of the road, as well as other Tupton residents wanting to safely access the GP’s surgery and further amenities on the northern side, they believe that increased usage is not limited to school times.

The parish council said: “It's also a very busy crossing. There’s a lot going on for both pedestrians and motorists to focus on simultaneously – in truth, probably too much.”

Tupton’s councillors are hoping that the County Council changes their position on this issue.

They stated that we’re all human, and everyone experiences momentary lapses of judgement which a stop/go signalled crossing would mitigate against.