Yogalakshmi Sinnaiah

Dear Mr Horsley Inquest into the death of Sinnaiah YOGALAKSHMI am writing in response to your Regulation 28 Report and the concerns within, namely that: Ms Sinnaiah crossed Dragon Street using the pelican crossing from the 'wrong side' of the traffic light 'cutting the corner' Using the crossing in this manner is a common occurrence and there have been a number of near misses Provision of railings either side of the crossing would prevent this happening and thereby reduce the potential for future incidents of this type. On the 7th of September Hampshire County Councils Casualty Reduction Partnership (CRP) held a meeting at the site of the collision to consider your concerns The CRP is a Programme run by the County Council's Safety Engineering Team which consists of officers from County Council who specialise in various fields, the relevant Borough/DistrictTown Council and Hampshire Constabulary. As part of the partnership we consider the circumstances of each fatal and potentially fatal accident site and, in this instance, issues raised within the Regulation 28 Report Attendees at the site visit included the Highway Manager for Traffic Systems and Street Lighting, a Principal Engineer from Highways Maintenance, a Principal Engineer from HCC Traffic Management, an East Hants District Council Traffic Management Engineer; the Team Leader from HCC Safety Engineering, the Hampshire Constabulary Traffic Management Officer and the Senior Investigating Officer from Hampshire Constabulary's Serious Collision Investigation Unit; Barbara Beardwell MA Solicitor Hampshire Head of Law and Govemance and Monitorng Officer County Council Lexcel John Coughlan CBE Legal Practlce Quallty Mark Chief Executive the

Whilst on site we examined our entire database of personal injury accident history at the crossing and found no recorded personal injury accidents involving pedestrians between January 1990 and 30th November 2015. Our Traffic Management; Highway Maintenance and East Hants District Council colleagues confirmed no history of complaints or concerns members of the public concerning the crossing: National research data shows that the majority of accidents that occur at pedestrian crossings do occur on the approaches. Approximately 50% of pedestrians use crossings correctly where there are no barriers on the approach, compared to 75% where there are barriers_ Therefore the installation of barriers does not guarantee total compliance with proper crossing procedure There are strict guidelines for highway works and measures are designed using the guidance provided by the Department for Transport such as the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, Manual for Streets, the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016, Traffic Signs Manuals or various Transport Notes or Traffic Advisory Leaflets The most important advice for this situation would be LTN 2/09 Pedestrian Guard railing. In recent years National best practice has been to encourage a reduction in the dominance of motor vehicles in inappropriate places by reducing the amount of street clutter;, barriers and obstructions and placing the emphasis on freedom of pedestrian movements. The area of Petersfield in question is part of a Shared Space scheme, there are limited road markings, extensive decorative road surfaces and it is within close proximity to the ZOmph zone. The installation of pedestrian guard railing could potentially increase the speed of vehicles as the addition of street furniture reduces the effect of the shared space area. The area surrounding the crossing has been carefully designed to limit the ability of pedestrians to cut across, with bike racks and planters in place on the eastern side A significant concern for members of CRP was the potential for people to shortcut around the proposed barriers and whether introducing barriers at this location would encourage people to cross closer to the Heath Road and High Street junctions resulting in a potential for increased conflict with vehicle movements. It is also a fairly common practice for pedestrians trying to avoid the barriered area to stand between the barrier and the road edge. An additional concern should a barrier be placed on the approach to the crossing, would be the potential for planters to be placed on the railings limiting the intervisibility between pedestrians and vehicles on the approach: The current pedestrian crossing is a 'Pelican' type and, as we are aware you understand from your investigations, these crossings have a high level 'flashing green figure' for pedestrians on the opposite side of the crossing which initially operates concurrently with the flashing amber for waiting vehicles_ As shown by the Police evidence within the transcript of the inquest Ms Sinnaiah attempted to cross on a flashing green figure when she approached the crossing at the same time that the Mercedes lorry driver had the flashing amber light and no sight of Ms Sinnaiah. Due to significant reservations about the safety of installing pedestrian guard railing at this location and the lack of previous personal injury accidents at the location, the County Council proposes to bring forward the upgrading of the Pelican crossing by 3 from

years to a new style Puffin crossing instead, removing the potential uncertainty that comes with a concurrent flashing amber signal and flashing green figure: The Puffin crossing does not utilize an offside flashing green figure but has the pedestrian signal located on the nearside pole ensuring pedestrians have to be in the correct position on the crossing to see their signal. This also ensures the pedestrians are stood facing towards any oncoming traffic. The crossing will have a minimum 'all red' period of 3 seconds which can be extended by on-crossing pedestrian detectors providing an additional all-red of up to 8 seconds, a total of up to 11 seconds to allow pedestrians to clear the crossing after the green figure has been extinguished. If this is acceptable we estimate works will be complete by the end of the financial In addition to these works the crown on the trees on the northbound approach to the crossing will be raised to improve the visibility of the signals, intervisibility between pedestrians and oncoming vehicles and overall conspicuity of the crossing: trust the above is of assistance_