Guide Dogs invites Lord Faulkner to honour pledge and take a walk on a 'shared surface'

Campaign against road schemes, which put people and vehicles on a collision course, steps up a gear.

Having had their work on pedestrian safety effectively dismissed out-of-hand by Lord Faulkner of Worcester, who speaks for the Department for Transport in the Lords, The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association has stepped up its campaign against these road development schemes.

Guide Dogs is the UK’s leading expert with over 75 years experience of working with blind and partially sighted people to get around. Over a five year period, it has been collecting evidence which shows that the introduction of shared surface streets - where kerbs are removed and traffic and pedestrians are forced to use the same space – poses significant risks for all visually impaired people and other vulnerable groups.

On Wednesday this week, in a House of Lords debate on the subject, Lord Faulkner dismissed much of Guide Dogs’ work on the topic, but did offer to be blind-folded and experience shared surface streets for himself.

Dr. Tom Pey, Guide Dogs’ Director of External Affairs, said: “Lord Faulkner, and the Government, would appear to have adopted a position based on incomplete research which is seriously flawed, whilst ignoring the results of our research which has looked at the experience of blind and partially sighted people.

“Those who back these shared surface schemes have no understanding of the mobility needs of blind and partially sighted people or of the techniques that they employ to navigate our streets. Experiencing the issues at first hand would, at least, give them an insight. We invite Lord Faulkner to honour his pledge to take a blindfold walk in a shared surface area and experience for himself the stress and the anxiety that is posed when traffic and pedestrians are forced together. I am certain that it will alter his views.”

A lack of boundaries and removal of traditional features, such as kerbs and controlled crossings, makes getting around our town centres much more difficult for pedestrians with sight loss.

Tom Pey continued: “The current vogue for shared surface streets is having a massive impact on the ability of blind and partially sighted people to get around.  Vulnerable groups are simply staying away.  Yet, despite all the evidence, schemes including Exhibition Road in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, which 11 million pedestrians use every year, are still being implemented.

“It is amazing that the Government appears to have no legal obligation to keep the most vulnerable in society safe on our streets. We are calling on them to give blind and partially sighted people the same chance as everyone else to enjoy our town centres.

“The emerging results of the research commissioned by Transport for London are encouraging but only the real world trials that have been suggested will establish whether an alternative means of delineating a shared space has been found.

“Guide Dogs pledges its 75-year expertise in this area to continue to support the search for a solution that works for everyone.”

For further information about Guide Dogs’ campaign against shared surface streets, visit www.guidedogs.org.uk/sharedstreets