This is a cross post of a piece written by Vivian Naylor for Greater Auckland. The original post can be accessed here.
Vivian is the Barrier Free Advisor and Educator at CCS Disability Action, Northern Region, the largest disability support and advocacy organisation in Aotearoa New Zealand. She also advises on Auckland Transport’s Public Transport and Capital Projects Accessibility Groups.
Vivian has been advocating and working to improve accessibility for people living with disabilities for over four decades, and recently received a King’s Birthday Honour (MNZM) for her work. Below, she writes about how – and why – raised crossings are a vital accessibility device.
Advocating to improve the needs of the disabled community in the built environment requires tenacity and belief that change is possible but, as the well-used statement goes, ‘good things take time’! Progress can be glacially slow, and it is hard to understand why. Our advocacy benefits everyone; design features that enhance access and, by default, safety, for disabled people advantages everyone.
This is especially true in the design of our streetscapes. The more they are safe and welcoming for disabled people, the better they are for children, older people, and everyone in between.
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The same applies to cycleways. Few of us would have appreciated the amazing array of cycling equipment used by disabled people until Waka Kotahi NZTA funded the 2023 Inclusive Cycling Programme, delivered by Bike Auckland and Grab Your Wheels, which resulted in a network audit, and contributed to the completion of Waka Kotahi’s draft design guide already in progress. A great initiative.
Raised crossings offer vital accessibility and safety
I particularly want to focus on raised crossings because of the way they’ve recently become a target of controversy, both in the media and in policymaking. The voices of many motorists have been loud and clear – but those of pedestrians, and particularly disabled pedestrians, have not.
Raised pedestrian crossings are a fine example of an accessibility feature that delivers universal benefits. In response to a critical safety review in 2018, Auckland Transport has over the last five years installed over a hundred examples, many near schools and shops and public transport.
The local data is clear, and backs research from elsewhere: raised crossings improve safety, especially for people on feet and wheels.
What’s less discussed is how raised crossings also improve accessibility. This applies for anyone who may be slow or unsteady on their feet, or less able to judge traffic speeds and distances – including children and older people – as well as anyone who requires wheeled mobility assistance.
Most obviously, on a raised crossing, you’re sitting or standing up higher and thus more visible to drivers. A raised crossing also makes it easier and faster to successfully cross the road, without having to navigate a gutter and curb at each side.
By contrast, on a surface-level crossing accessed by ramps from the footpath, people crossing the road are less visible to drivers. And in a wheelchair or power chair, you may need to navigate ramps backwards to avoid tipping out (a manoeuvre that may be familiar to those pushing a pram or pushchair). This not only impacts visibility, it also slows everyone’s journey and exposes vulnerable travellers to more risk for longer.
A recent story about a new raised (courtesy) crossing in Karori near a retirement community and rest home highlights the broad community benefits. In the words of community advocate Valerie Smith:
“We want to be part of our community as much as possible, and the steep kerb on Campbell Street was limiting our access. When I came here, I could never get to the shops in my wheelchair. It’s now much easier to go to and from the shops and public library and finally be part of the community. It’s taken a lot of meetings and emails but we are really appreciative of this,” she says.
“And it’s not just for us. It’s also for the mums with pushchairs, and the young school children who cross this road every morning and afternoon.”
So why the dangerous recent U-turn on raised crossings?
Given the benefits of raised crossings, you’d imagine the question is: how quickly and affordably can we put them wherever people need them?
So it’s been alarming to see the recent government-led backtrack, a sudden U-turn that flies in the face of both the evidence and community concerns.
In a speedy response to signals in the (draft) Government Policy Statement on Land Transport, Waka Kotahi/ NZTA has already downgraded dozens of shovel-ready projects around the country to remove planned and consulted-on raised crossings.
Locally, Auckland Transport has also decided a third of its planned raised crossings will be replaced with “alternative safety measures” – with no mention of alternative accessibility measures.
This is a worryingly backward move for safety, accessibility and local decision-making. And it’s disturbing that the voices of disabled people and other vulnerable pedestrians – with rare exceptions – aren’t central in this conversation, at both the local and national level.
It’s essential these voices are heard
Concerned by the government’s direction, earlier this year I surveyed the sector to hear what raised crossings mean for people living with disabilities. A few examples:
“As a power-chair user, raised crossings are my preferred crossing spaces as most vehicles are forced to slow down or else possibly bottom out, giving me more time to cross or react to any unexpected decisions made by the driver/s before reaching the perceived safety of the footpath. I feel more visible to the driver/s and am able to better see them for eye-to-eye contact, which is often when they decide what to do next and mostly that happens before they enter the raised level, and it all happens at that raised height which usually signals to most drivers who drive regularly within the city of the need to beware of people possibly crossing here.”*
“I support the use of Platform Pedestrian Crossings. I am a wheelchair user and find crossing roads can be extremely hazardous. I always feel lot safer when I can cross on a raised pedestrian crossing, being a little higher off the main road surface, means that I feel I am more in line of drivers’ sight, and feel a lot safer.”
“As a wheelchair user with severely brittle bones living in a very hilly city, standard kerb cuts with bouncy/unsettling tactile indicators on the steepest angles, I am one very small misjudgement away from a serious injury, long rehab and extended leave from work.
Even if built to the correct NZ standards, I often find myself choosing to push further along the path to use a driveway to drop down on to the road. While this has an added risk of then needing to navigate myself along the road, while dodging traffic, to find an easier/safer junction back to the footpath.
When I am lucky enough to be crossing the road at a raised platform crossing, it ultimately removes my disability! I simply look to ensure traffic is slowing down and very easily traverse across the road.”
“As an ageing wheelchair user I was delighted when raised platform crossings were installed. So many kerb ramps are dangerous often because of the way they are constructed, e.g.
1) steep gradients – even 1:8 is too steep and can be impossible to negotiate when TGSIs [Tactile Ground Surface Indicators, the nubbly tiles] add to the difficulties. There was an occasion when I was trapped on the road unable to get up the kerb ramp and luckily a passing motorist helped me up.
2) often I have to descend backwards and wait in the road for the appropriate time to cross for fear that the steepness of the gradient will tip me out – and often several layers of tar seal bog the wheelchair casters in the gutter. This can be difficult to escape from.
I am also aware of tall wheelchair users getting their footrests snagged into a steep kerb ramp because of how much they protrude in front of the chair.
Platform crossings remove all these difficulties and anxieties, making navigating the streets so much safer – and stress-free.”
“These raised crossings in our area [Mangere Bridge Village] have made the walk to school and the shops much safer because it’s much easier for drivers to look out for us when they are slowing down for the raised area. Some of the installation is a bit wonky so they can be tricky to drive over, but the bumps are a small price for the extra safety.”
“People ignore me at Zebra crossings and school crossings so raised crossings give me hope that maybe I’ll have better luck at crossing the road.”
“As a wheelchair user, I find using the crossing at the Pitt St/Hobson St intersection much easier and safer to get to the island in the middle to cross the Hobson St/Union St/Pitt St intersection. The importance of raised crossings as a visual aid for drivers and a safety aid for pedestrians should not be underestimated. I agree… they should be constructed and used more not less.”
“If they could be constructed at a cheaper cost they would be great. I am trying to get a pedestrian crossing put in at the intersection of Old Mill and Garnet Roads but Auckland Transport have basically said no.”
“Many drivers appear ignorant [that] the law requires them to stop for pedestrians at crossings. The more visibility the better.”
“As a blind person, raised crossings give me confidence that I’ll be seen by drivers! We need more, not less of them!”
Where to from here?
How do we make sure these voices reach the ears of the Minister of Transport and the local transport leaders in charge of our streets? How to move their understanding beyond throwaway comments about “speed bumps”?
In my work as an accessibility advisor, I can often see potential for improvement on our streets. Processes can be streamlined for better outcomes – from the initial design process, to quality control over delivery, to ensuring scheduled repaving makes the situation better, not worse.
On occasions, I’ve taken roading engineers and other relevant consultants on a walkabout to review their streetscape design features, especially crossings, and given them the opportunity to experience them using wheelchairs. The outcome has often been very sobering for them.
Maybe it’s time to extend the same invitation to the political leaders and transport executives who are so busily dismissing and downgrading a vital accessibility option that should by all measures be both welcome and uncontroversial.
Come and cross the road with me. What’s the worst that could happen?
As a society, we tend to measure the people who are there, not those who can’t get there. We can do better. Let’s lift our game for more inclusive and accessible public streets. A timely place to start would be elevating our discussion of raised crossings.
