Narrow road 'causing vehicles to mount kerb'

A narrow road in Jersey has been causing buses and cars to mount the kerb in order to give enough space to oncoming traffic.

The section of St Clement's coast road has only one pavement, and the local constable said he was worried about families with prams and dogs.

Sean Pontin, chief executive of Enable Jersey also said it was dangerous, saying: "If you're in a wheelchair, or you can't get out of the way quick enough, that's really quite worrying."

Liberty Bus said two buses could not pass each other without going on to the pavement, despite newer vehicles being smaller in width. The government has been approached for a comment.

Bus company CEO Kevin Hart said: "When you're approaching it as a bus driver, you literally have to read the road ahead. It slims down quite a lot.

About the 400m (1,310ft) section of road between Rocque Bay apartments and Pontorson Lane, he said it was difficult heading west: "You're there against that granite wall and the last thing you want to do is scrape those walls... That does happen from time to time, but it's part of the challenges."

Hart said mounting the kerb could damage buses but it was the only option when two passed each other, and this was despite upgrading to slimmer single-deckers to better suit roads.

Constable Marcus Troy said the situation "potentially could be dangerous".

He said: "If somebody happens to be coming out of one of their properties at a precise time that somebody's mounting a pavement, there could be an issue.

"What worries me is families with prams and dogs.

"I'm always very wary, even if there's no traffic."

Sean Pontin said: "It's dangerous for road-users as well as the people on the path and pavement.

"When you talk to people in a wheelchair or people with disabilities about trying to get around, their movements are very planned and very specific, and they have to think about where they're going to go and when.

"People parking up on the kerb or somebody swerving on to a kerb, that's another challenge that really people just don't really need."

Jason Houghton, who lives in the area, said it affected the flow of traffic when the pavement was busy.

He said: "I think around the area there's quite a few young families, as well as people coming to from the pub, and the schools finish at 3pm, so buses have to slow down or stop."

Campervan driver Martin Grimes said: "It can be dangerous, we have to be considerate to each other, and generally speaking everybody is."

On the possibility of widening the road, Troy said people were unlikely to want to give up any space they had overlooking the sea, and it was challenging to improve roads.

He said: "We want to maintain the integrity of the look and feel of those roads, we want to maintain the countryside feel.

"You must bear in mind also that, with new properties, the planning rules now say that if you're going to build a development, you have to build a wider pavement.

"Going forward over the next few decades, you'll see gradually the pavements will increase in size."

The States of Jersey Police said it was an offence to drive on a footpath under Article 40 of the Road Traffic Jersey Law 1956 unless "the footway was adjacent to a road which is too narrow for vehicles to pass safely in opposite directions".

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