The Enfield Independent has reported that a campaign has been launched to improve safety for pedestrians crossing Green Lanes at the Fox Lane junction. This is just one of several hazardous crossing points facing pedestrians in Palmers Green.
This is where campaigners want a zebra crossing - between Park Avenue and the Fox Lane mini-roundaboutSpecifically, the campaigners would like a zebra crossing across Green Lanes on the north side of the Green Lanes/Fox Lane mini-roundabout. One of the instigators of the campaign works in the dry cleaning shop next to the junction and says she frequently sees incidents where pedestrians narrowly escape being struck by vehicles. She has obtained the support of local MP David Burrowes and of TV personality Matt di Angelo. However, Enfield Council have rejected this suggestion on the grounds that it would "cause other safety problems" and reduce car parking space in Green Lanes.
Currently all three sides of the mini-roundabout have "courtesy crossings", with a dropped kerb and tactile surface on the pavement. While clearly intended as a point where pedestrians can cross, there is no requirement for drivers to stop for pedestrians standing on the pavement, who have to wait for a sufficiently long gap in the traffic.
The Fox Lane mini-roundabout indubitably poses a problem for pedestrians, as indeed does the entire stretch of Green Lanes between the junctions with Devonshire Road and Barrowell Green - a distance of more than half a mile. There are no formal pedestrian crossings between these two points, but traffic volumes are high, sightlines are poor, and gaps in the traffic are normally only short, meaning that pedestrians have to cross quickly. Those unable to walk quickly are forced to make long diversions or take unacceptable risks.
The most hazardous point is the Green Lanes/Bourne Hill/Hedge Lane crossroads. The only provision for pedestrians to cross is a period of 13 seconds when all the traffic lights are red (see this report from 2009). However, drivers routinely use this time to execute right turns and red light running is completely endemic at this junction. It is common for cars to drive through a red light at high speed and turn left out of Hedge Lane during the time that is supposedly allotted to pedestrians, but neither pedestrians nor drivers can see round the corner.
To the south of the Fox Lane mini-roundabout there are two other hazardous crossings that have long been recognised without any action being taken. These are the ends of Hazelwood Lane and Lodge Avenue. In both cases pedestrians have to walk across a very wide stretch of road without any kind of refuge. They have to contend with a large amount of traffic, including many cars turning out of Green Lanes, and often have to make their way through cars waiting to turn into Green Lanes.
