We visited the junction on Leith Walk where it meets Brunswick Road on Thursday evening and shot some videos – some of which are in the thread embedded below.
Traffic flow has been altered and now traffic coming down Leith Walk cannot turn right onto Brunswick Road and traffic coming up Leith Walk is no longer supposed to make a left turn into Brunswick Road. Sadly, in a short time we witnessed drivers on almost every change of the traffic lights making these illegal turns. This means they were traversing the pedestrian crossing when the green man was lit and all sorts of conflicts resulted. We saw one driver and pedestrian almost come to blows over it.
Traffic may cross straight over the junction from Macdonald Road – and Brunswick Road is now one way with a cycle lane along one side, although the paint on the road still has to be changed to reflect the correct direction of travel.
Lollipop man Albert cited the example of a man in a wheelchair who crossed there earlier in the week, and who was almost run over by an approaching vehicle.
Last night Police Scotland were in evidence booking some of the car drivers for road traffic offences, but they have pointed out to the council that they cannot police the junction 24 hours each day, and so more preventive measures have been put in place on Friday.
Some of this must largely be in response to the many social media posts of video of the junction over the last few days which have brought this to public attention. On the downhill side of Leith Walk some new cones have been added and a new no right turn sign has also been put in place – to make it more evident that drivers should not turn right here.
Transport Convener, Cllr Scott Arthur, speaking to The Edinburgh Reporter for our podcast on Friday said that he finds the situation at the pedestrian crossing on Brunswick Road unacceptable. He has already tweeted that any drivers not obeying the road signs “should be ashamed of themselves”.
He said: “We have a no right turn which is very clearly signposted but drivers are choosing to put pedestrians at risk by ignoring that. It’s completely unacceptable and I was really pleased to see that the police were out there yesterday and I understand they have been issuing fines to people. I think it should be more than fines to be honest.”
Cllr Arthur said: “Signs have been made more visible today in an effort to make it crystal clear where cars should and should not go. I have had quite a few conversations with the Trams to Newhaven team about this including a call first thing this mornin when we were looking at different options. One of the things we have looked at is replacing bollards and cones with concrete barriers that we are used to seeing, just to make it very clear to people that the manoeuvre they are undertaking just now is both illegal and is putting pedestrians at risk.
“We are working with Siemens just now to change the lighting sequence, again to protect pedestrian safety. But what that is going to do is cause traffic queuing at that junction. But I think it is right that we respect the transport hierarchy and put pedestrians first.
“It is completely unacceptable and I cannot believe that people will behave like that. People are frustrated by the roadworks around the tram construction. Thankfully they will be coming to an end soon, but I don’t think that frustration justifies putting pedestrians at risk. I have hears about the person in a wheelchair who was almost hit by a car. To me it is completely unthinkable actually. I just don’t understand why this is happening.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
