Safety fears overs Haverhill bus stop
Ron Davies is campaigning for a crossing to be put in at the bus stop on the A1307 outside Sainsbury's, which is heavily used by schoolchildren, especially in the later afternoon.
Fears over potential accidents at a busy bus stop in Haverhill have prompted one man from the town to launch a campaign for a pedestrian crossing.
Ron Davies, of Horsham Close wants to see the crossing installed at the bus stop on the A1307 outside Sainsbury’s.
He took up the cause after witnessing an incident a few months ago.
The 78-year-old said: “About six months ago we werer coming back from Cambridge and as we got offf the bus these two young lads got off in front of me and my wife and they went to the front of the bus and ran over the road as a car was going past the bus.
“They almost got knocked down and I said to my wife, ‘something has to be done about this’.”
Mr Davies met with Suffolk County Council (SCC) highways officer Anthony Smith, SCC locality officer Clair Harvey and county councillor Anne Gower on November 9 to try and take his campaign forward, suggesting during the discussion that a survey be undertaken to see how many passengers alight the bus and cross the road.
Mr Davies believes that survey has not yet happened, but one he undertook revealed that at 4.55pm on Friday, December 14, 17 passengers got off the bus and crossed the road towards Sainsbury’s.
Numbers were recorded for other days and times in the later afternoon period, added Mr Davies, who intends to start a petition in support of his campaign.
These showed that the period between 4.20pm and 5.15pm are the busiest for passenger numbers getting off the number 13 or 13X buses from Cambridge.
He added: “What I suggested at that meeting was that the bus stop should be moved 13 metres down the road, opposite the westbound bus going to Cambridge and there should be a layby for the bus to draw into.
“That’s a 40mph limit there and everything you look at is wrong.
“I spoke to people getting off the bus and asked them ‘do you think there should be a crossing’ and everyone has said yes.
“A lot of people have seen the problem but nobody has done anything about it.
“In the 20 years that bus stop has been there, how many houses have been built up there - hundreds.”
A spokesman for Suffolk County Council said; “Councillors and officers met with Mr Davies in November to discuss the installation of a crossing.
“Since then, officers have been analysing bus stop usage data and last week, carried out a pedestrian count.
“They have also met with staff from our passenger transport unit to see if moving the bus stop is an option.
“We’ve had regular contact with Mr Davies and councillors and work to investigate solutions will continue in the new year.”
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Weather for Haverhill
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 9 C
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