Milton Keynes' Redways and underpasses provide a safe way of travelling around the city without having to cross the busy grid roads. However, when it comes to night time, it seems that many people are risking the dangers of crossing the roads rather than using the Redways, as a result of not feeling safe enough using them.
Milton Keynes Council has joined with MKWeb to launch the Walk Safe campaign. The idea is to encourage people to use the Redways, and to help make them feel a bit safer doing so. Plans include educating children about how Redways are safer than crossing the roads and making the routes to schools more interesting, to try and get younger children into the habit of using Redways and underpasses for both school and leisure.
MK college art students are being enlisted to help make underpasses brighter and more colourful. New LED lights have recently been added to all underpasses, and vegetation has also been cut back, all in a bid to help make the pathways clearer and help people feel safer.
Other problem underpasses, such as the Bletchley station underbridge, will be targeted to help make them feel safer and encourage people to utilise them, with the Bletchley underbridge having new lighting installed, helping pedestrians feel safer.
This campaign and the work surrounding it is a great cause, and more needs to be done to educate and encourage individuals in using the Redways and underpasses safely, rather than risking their lives on the dangerously fast roads, which have already had far too many casualties.
