Mother-of-two Vicki Fox started a petition calling for lights and signs to be installed at Beckfield Lane’s zebra crossing where cars stop abruptly or fail to stop due to poor visibility.
The 45-year-old’s petition stated she was horrified by the number of cars that fail to see pedestrians waiting to cross and called for action before a tragic accident happens.
Dave Atkinson, the council’s environmental and regulatory lead, said the request would be considered in line with a new process for dealing with changes to pedestrian crossings.
Mrs Fox’s Change.org petition calling for the changes had been signed by 418 people as of Wednesday, August 6, since its launch in June.
That petition and paper versions were signed by more than 700 people when they were presented to July’s full council meeting by opposition Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Cllr Stephen Fenton.
The petition calls for a push button pelican crossing to replace the current one used by children walking to and from local schools, residents and customers of nearby businesses.
It stated the current zebra crossing was no longer fit for purpose, with visibility hampered by trees and a lack of routine maintenance on its markings.
Mrs Fox said she first noticed problems when she started regularly taking her daughters Lauren, eight, and Isabelle, six to their Carr Junior and Infant schools last year.
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She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “At first I thought it was just me, but I chatted to other parents and they said they’d had issues there too so I thought something needed to be done about it, it’s unsafe.
“In February I saw a car slam on the brakes at the crossing and the one behind went into the back of them, I contacted the council to report the accident.
“My eldest daughter is due to go into Year Five soon which is when most children start walking to school on their own, but even as adults we worry about using the crossing.
“I spoke to one lady whose daughter’s now grown up, she said she almost got run over there when she was little, so it’s a long-running issue.”
Liberal Democrat Cllr Fenton, who agreed to take the issue up, said council workers had visited the crossing and repainted the markings after the concerns were reported.
But the councillor, of Dringhouses ward, added many felt the crossing was inherently unsafe and some had stopped using it all together.
Cllr Fenton said: “There are growing concerns that motorists are not stopping for pedestrians.
“The proximity of some large trees does not help with visibility, but it won’t be possible to do any significant tree pruning work until the autumn after nesting season.”
Labour’s Cllr Katie Lomas, who represents Acomb ward, said she had been working on the issue with council officers who had visited to see what changes could be made.
Cllr Lomas said: “The next step is for the highways safety team to assess the crossing and nearby junctions and recommend what measures can be implemented to improve safety.
“We need to ensure any solution properly addresses the problem.”
Council Environment and Regulatory Services Director Mr Atkinson said officials had received the petition and they were considering it.
The director said: “The request will be considered by our active travel team and assessed in line with our new process for pedestrian crossing requests.”
The council adopted a new methodology in June for assessing requests for crossings, in part to clear a backlog that has mounted in recent years.
A notice on the decision to adopt it stated the changes would give greater priority to need and future use and address existing casualty issues and users’ perceptions of danger.