Josie Hinton MORE than 30 pedestrian crossings at some of the busiest junctions in north Westminster do not give people enough time to cross, the Wood&Vale can reveal. Junctions in St John s Wood, Maida Vale, Marylebone and Paddington currently breach gov

Josie Hinton

MORE than 30 pedestrian crossings at some of the busiest junctions in north Westminster do not give people enough time to cross, the Wood&Vale can reveal.

Junctions in St John's Wood, Maida Vale, Marylebone and Paddington currently breach government guidelines on the time given to pedestrians, according to figures obtained by a Freedom of Information request.

The crossings - including those in Marylebone Road and Edgware Road - are too quick in showing the amber light to cars after the green man disappears for pedestrians.

They include an accident black spot at the junction of Marylebone Road and Old Marylebone Road where a pedestrian was killed after being hit by a skip lorry in March.

The figures, obtained by the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly, scrutinised all Transport for London (TfL) crossings and the poor results in Westminster have angered local campaigners.

Jennifer Nadel, who lives in Connaught Village, said: "Trying to cross Edgware Road involves risking your life daily, not only from pollution levels but from unsafe and unsynchronised crossings.

"I have children who cross the road to get to school and I worry about them on a daily basis. I hope TfL will take its responsibility seriously and provide a better environment for residents living either side of its arterial roads."

Carl Upsall, chairman of the Marylebone Association, said he raised the problem last year, while on a walkabout with TfL.

"Within minutes of the walk it was clear that the sequence of the lights and the way in which pedestrians are corralled into the central reservation was neither efficient nor pedestrian-friendly," he said.

"We were crossing the roads and finding we didn't have enough time to get across. In fact we found scarcely any lights that gave pedestrians enough time to get from one side of the road to the other."

Church Street councillor Barbara Grahame lives in Abbey Road, a site of one of the dangerous crossings.

She said: "I feel, as a committed pedestrian, very strongly about making walking safer, and safe crossings are key to this.

"It's a very busy road. We've all learnt that we have to take care of ourselves and be cautious when crossing. That's fine for adults, but terrifying for a mother with a child who wants to walk to school on their own."

Safety rules were changed for crossings in 2005 giving pedestrians more time to cut down on the number of accidents.

But four years later TfL has failed to introduce the new timings to one in five crossings in the capital.

A spokeswoman said all of Westminster's crossings would be changed in the next three years but those which haven't been upgraded are still safe to cross.

She added: "The vast majority - 90 per cent - of pedestrian crossings already meet the very latest guidelines and we are working hard to upgrade the remaining sites.