We, the undersigned, petition Reading Borough Council to install a zebra crossing near St Joseph's College on Upper Redlands Road.

What is the issue?
There is no safe place to cross Upper Redlands Road between the school gates of St Joseph’s College and Alexandra Road.

The lack of a safe crossing place impacts

• pupils from St Joseph's College, whose school roll has increased from around 360 to almost 600 pupils in the last 5 years,
• pupils from Redlands Primary School, which has seen an increase of over 100 pupils over the same period
• students from the University of Reading
• the general public

The crossing is not required for convenience. There is simply no safe place for children and adults to cross Upper Redlands Road.

The existing crossings at the top of Alexandra Road and on Upper Redlands Road (West of the junction with Elmshurst Road) are not sufficient as they do not provide a direct route between Shinfield Road and the school. The pupils approaching the school from Shinfield Road/Christchurch Road still have to cross either Upper Redlands Road or Elmhurst Road, both of which are busy roads with cars moving at high speeds.

Proposed solution

A dedicated crossing facility is required on Upper Redlands Road.

The safest solution is a zebra crossing. A cheaper solution is to convert existing speed restriction cushions into a full-width raised crossing (with imprinting on top). As the platform would be in the same location as the speed humps, this would not affect the road arrangement.

The Council should also consider bringing in the curb lines to reduce the speed at which traffic approaches the junction between Alexandra Road and Upper Redlands Road to improve the safety of the intersection.