Safe road crossings
Blind and partially sighted people rely on a rotating cone at pedestrian crossings to help them cross the road safely. The rotating cones are on the underside of pedestrian crossings and start spinning so people with sight loss can feel that it is safe to cross the road. (See a close-up view of a cone.)
There are 890 signal controlled pedestrian crossings across Glasgow and an audit has shown that 403 of these crossings do not have the cone.
An example of a controlled pedestrian crossing without the rotating cone.
This is on Maryhill Road, one of the busiest roads in North Kelvin.
Councillor Robert Mooney has raised this at a recent Council meeting highlighting that “blind people will not leave the house because they are frightened to go on the streets because the crossings are not accessible”.
North Kelvin Community Council want our community to be safe and accessible for everyone. If you live in North Kelvin and are affected by this please get in touch and share your experience.
April 2022 update: Councillor Wardrop raised this matter with the City Council and received this response:
Some locations that currently do not have tactile cones and these are mostly historic sites which were designed prior to the current standards. Unfortunately, at many of these sites, the existing cabling would not support the retrofitting of the tactile cones and the junction or crossing would require a full upgrade. Over recent years we have prioritised retrofit upgrades at all sites that can accommodate tactile cones, without a full site upgrade. This is now complete and any existing sites would require a full upgrade.
We are currently working on a programme of improvements within the city and we will prioritise site upgrades as and when funding becomes available.
The traffic signals and pedestrian crossings on Queen Margaret Dr and Maryhill Rd (from Bilsland Dr to Braeside St) are listed below.
- GD035 Great Western Road / Byres Road / Queen Margaret Drive – is fitted with tactile cones.
- GD235 Queen Margaret Dr / Clouston St – does not have tactile cones, but is fitted with an audible tone.
- GD232 New crossing outside the school entrance – is fitted with tactile cones.
- GD230 Maryhill Rd / Bilsland Dr / Queen Margaret Dr – is fitted with tactile cones.
- GD225 Maryhill Rd / Fire Station – does not have tactile cones, but is fitted with an audible tone.
- GD217 Maryhill Rd / Braeside St – is fitted with tactile cones.
