Sustained campaigning by RNIB volunteer Rose Hewitt recently led the Working Group for Transport in Torbay to vote for Dartmouth Road Crossing to become a priority road safety project. This means that a controlled pelican crossing will soon be installed at the site. This is the only major road safety work which will be carried out in Torbay this financial year. There was some stiff competition from other road safety proposals but councillors unanimously voted in support of Rose's proposal.
Keeping up the pressure
Rose campaigned for five years and for the last three years RNIB supported the campaign. She was asking for a controlled pelican crossing to be installed on Dartmouth Road, which currently has an inadequate staggered zebra crossing. Dartmouth road is a very busy A road and Rose must cross it to get to her local shops and to the bus stop.
This campaign was not easy and involved:
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The organisation of two petitions, which collected over 700 signatures
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Meeting with the local head of highways to get him to agree that a controlled crossing could be installed
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Attending three transport working group meetings and one full council meeting
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Getting local councillors on side
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Sending of emails and letters
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Obtaining media coverage
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Taking on local shop owners who have tried to lobby against the crossing because it will mean the loss of twocar parking spaces - we lobbied the council to look at alternative parking
Rose and Tara Melton would like to thank everyone who supported the campaign for all their hard work!