Guernsey deputy backs pavement speed limit

Deputy Ross Le Brun and a pedestrian rights group have condemned vehicles entering public walkways at speed.

Guernsey's pavement surfing culture has become a hot topic on social media.

It follows a Living Streets campaign against vehicles mounting pavements at speed.

Online, many islanders agreed the manoeuvre was unsafe - but necessary in narrow lanes.

More than 130 comments on Island FM's Facebook page took the discussion in different directions; some suggested vehicle width restrictions, more one-way roads, and a 5 mph pavement speed limit.

Deputy Ross Le Brun, who spent the summer submitting questions to Environment and Infrastructure and Freedom of Information requests regarding road safety, joined the conversation.

He told Island FM it's concerning that pavement driving is so normalised.

"We've just become blind to it, and it's just the culture now.

"We're prioritising vehicle movement over people's safety.

"Everyday children are having to step into gateways to allow vehicles, large heavy commercial vehicles as well as commuting vehicles to pass.

"I was a commercial lorry driver, and I understand that we do need to use the pavements to pass traffic, but it needs to be done safely, and unfortunately the guidance given is only guidance."

The current 1929 law allowing vehicles to mount pavements to get past obstructions says drivers must do so with “due care and regard for the safety of pedestrians and other users of the public highway.”

Guernsey Police have previously advised motorists that, where it is necessary to mount a pavement, they should proceed along it "at a crawl".

Le Brun says this is too vague. The politician says Guernsey infrastructure is not built for modern traffic:

"There is a fundamental problem where we're putting two-way vehicle movements into roads that can really only accommodate one, and we've now sort of fallen into the trap of believing that the pavement should be a shared space, but it's not.

"Now we're asking children, elderly, blind people, all the vulnerable users who can't drive to take the risk for our lack of wanting to change the infrastructure."

Le Brun says he supports the introduction of a 5mph pavement speed limit.

"(It could be) Similar to a car park, having a five-mile-an-hour speed limit sign as you drive in.

"People don't generally speed in car parks. It's accepted that you drive slowly and safely in a car park, but it's completely different out on the pavement where children are having to walk to school."

Living Streets recently launched the Community Road Watch, an online form where islanders can report unsafe behaviour on the roads.