Petition handed to council calling for changes to Dunstable town centre traffic lights over safety concerns

Concerns about the light sequencing at the junction of High Street North, High Street South, Church Street and West Street prompted a petition to be submitted to Central Bedfordshire Council with 306 signatures.

It read: “The sequence should be changed so traffic from only one street enters the crossroads at a time, with pedestrians crossing after the four-road rotation.

“To assist pedestrians, the crossing timing needs to be changed to 15 seconds bleeping and ten seconds flashing to allow everyone, including disabled and the elderly, time to cross safely without feeling they must rush.”

The petition was started by Dunstable town councillor Nicholas Kotarski and was presented to a CBC traffic management meeting to find potential solutions. One of the aims is to avoid further roadworks locally.

CBC’s head of traffic management Kyle Shaw said: “It would be prudent to take it away for a wider review, but our traffic signals engineer has studied the junction already.

“There’s a fundamental capacity issue, with a large amount of traffic. The layout in the area can’t facilitate the amount of vehicles trying to use the roads.

“We’re in the process of working on a collaborative agreement with Luton Borough Council to share costs and centralise the monitoring of traffic signals because of budgetary constraints.

“If implemented, SCOOT (split cycle offset optimisation technique) would give us the ability to introduce a method called gating. That would allow us to hold traffic further back along the A505 and High Street South to enable more capacity and service some of the other issues.

“One of the drivers for the delivery of this public realm project was to improve the scenario for pedestrians. The current phasing and design of the junction lends itself to that, while still allowing time for free movement of vehicles.

“There’s been one accident recorded by the police since the completion of the scheme, which was through driver negligence and had no bearing on the highway itself.”

Independent Aspley and Woburn councillor John Baker, who chairs the meeting, said: “I’m sympathetic to the points raised, having used this junction a number of times.

“I can’t say we should change the sequence of the traffic lights because that requires a report. I agree we should balance the needs of pedestrians with those of motorists.

“I don’t think complete gridlock in the centre of Dunstable is the best way we can support traders, with people sitting outside premises staring at stationary traffic. Now is the right time to review the sequencing.

“Officers should work with our CBC Dunstable councillors, consider the options available and come up with a proposal. We can’t afford to spend a large sum of money completely redesigning a junction.

“What does it cost to paint some lines on the ground or to have a right lane filter at peak periods? These aren’t huge sums. We accept the petition. It’s fine to trial something and see how things improve.”