Bunda Street truly rectified

random said :

Case in point for why the Childers Street “shared zone” is a joke. You don’t need pedestrian crossings in a shared zone, because pedestrians have right of way!

Pedestrian crossing or not, the speed limit needs to be enforced. No way am i going to claim my “right of way” as a pedestrian when walking towards an car going 6 times the speed limit.

Davo111 said :

what he said, i’ve seen people do at least 60 down the “shared zone”. Ive seen people speed up even more to try and “beat me” to the pedestrian crossing so they dont have to stop.

Case in point for why the Childers Street “shared zone” is a joke. You don’t need pedestrian crossings in a shared zone, because pedestrians have right of way!

Architecturally, it’s just a road: the road is separated from the surrounding footpaths by on-street parking, planters and bicycle racks, which encourages separate car and pedestrian corridors. There’s no need for any sharing, just crossing.

Thoroughly Smashed said :

KaptnKaos said :

Another Canberra road “wrecktified”.

It’s okay, they’re not going to leave it like that.

Oh good, so it will be fixed like the Erindale Drive/Ashley Drive roundabout – 3 weeks and no work done except to scrape the road enough to wreck tyres – yes fix my street contacted or Marcus Clarke St/Hobart Place dug up and nothing for two weeks, just fencing erected to block motorcycle parking or the GDE – we’ll just leave that one alone or Drakeford Drive, relaid but you don’t need lines for lanes, make your own.

But agree to the shared zone concept for Bunda, Childers Street has shown it can work well.

m_ratt said :

Replacement target of whinging?
Horse Park Drive and Majura Road – what were they thinking with the recent patching and pot hole filling on Horse Park – it’s like driving on Braille.
And the full Majura Resurface in late 2008 (where the new surface was laid directly over the old crap one, pot holes and all, without any grading), was woeful.

This appears to be “the Canberra way”…

KaptnKaos said :

Another Canberra road “wrecktified”.

It’s okay, they’re not going to leave it like that.

Replacement target of whinging?
Horse Park Drive and Majura Road – what were they thinking with the recent patching and pot hole filling on Horse Park – it’s like driving on Braille.
And the full Majura Resurface in late 2008 (where the new surface was laid directly over the old crap one, pot holes and all, without any grading), was woeful.

The ability for pedestrians to flow freely on Bunda Street today without worrying about traffic on the road to nowhere was excellent. I couldn’t help but chuckle seeing the people ignoring the road closed ahead warnings then to try and do a u-turn when they came to the end.

The Government choosing not to turn the area into a pedestrian area with local access for delivery vehicles is absolutely idiotic. Bunda St does not go anywhere nor do any of the side streets, the businesses there are not going to lose any business, more likely to gain business when the impediment of the road is not there.

thy_dungeonman said :

You can watch the driver behaviour on the shared zone at the ANU for a bit more evidence of that.

what he said, i’ve seen people do at least 60 down the “shared zone”. Ive seen people speed up even more to try and “beat me” to the pedestrian crossing so they dont have to stop.

artuoui said :

arescarti42 said :

Sgt.Bungers said :

Shared zones work all over Europe, with no cons except for the initial cost. Are Australians really incapable of adapting to them?

In a society where the motorists have “the road is for cars only” pretty heavily ingrained into their heads, probably.

I’m still amazed at how people fail to use this as a shared zone consider the large electronic signs that say “shared zone” at every entrance. The initially removed the pedestrian crossing when it was made into a shared zone but now they have had to put them back. I once saw someone doing (the posted limit) 10km hour there, true story, with an angry convoy behind them. Cars don’t seem to realise also that shared zone includes cyclists and I’m always careful to ride slowly around them but I they never seem to realise that I have right of way.

You can watch the driver behaviour on the shared zone at the ANU for a bit more evidence of that.

artuoui said :

arescarti42 said :

Sgt.Bungers said :

Shared zones work all over Europe, with no cons except for the initial cost. Are Australians really incapable of adapting to them?

In a society where the motorists have “the road is for cars only” pretty heavily ingrained into their heads, probably.

You can watch the driver behaviour on the shared zone at the ANU for a bit more evidence of that.

The shared zone of Childers Street was working fine. Until a few months ago when they ripped the main choke points out to accommodate the trucks hauling fill out of the student accommodation site at the north end. Now it is functioning just like any other 60kph street. A real shame.

I am with Sgt Bungers on this. I was part of the Maroochy Council that built such a shared zone on Duporth Ave and Ocean Street in central Maroochydore. To this day it works a treat, and formerly deserted commercial zones have been reinvigorated. Drivers and pedestrians need to ensure eye contact and then “negotiate” who goes first. And generally, through traffic finds a path with less “friction”.

Article on and photos of it in this issue of our newsletter: http://gcc.asn.au/images/Gunsmoke/2010/issue_117.pdf

It is precisely what Bunda Street needs. (And Hibberson Street!!)