A near miss on a Liskeard zebra crossing has brought into question the safety of the crossing for pedestrians.

A mother and her son were already on the crossing at Greenbank Road on Friday morning (January 17) when a motorist failed to stop. The mother had the presence of mind to check if the car was stopping while negotiating the crossing holding her son’s hand who was walking behind her. We have not been able to reach the mother for comment.

The driver of the car which recorded the incident on their dashcam can be heard beeping to alert the car to their dangerous error.

In the clip, the pedestrians can be seen emerging from scaffolding on the building directly beside the crossing which spans the entire width of the pavement and starting to cross the road. According to the Highway Code, ‘drivers and riders should give way to pedestrians waiting to cross and must give way to pedestrians on a zebra crossing’. It continues that ‘pedestrians have priority when on a zebra crossing and motorists should always give way to anyone waiting to cross’.

Cornwall councillor for Liskeard Nick Craker said: “This is a zebra crossing that needs to be crossed cautiously because of this exact issue. It has been regularly raised over a number of years.

“I have brought it to the Highways Manager’s attention many times, and been told that there isn’t anything more than can be done from a design perspective to make this safer.

“Liskeard has just been consulted by Cornwall Highways on a town centre 20 mph zone which Cornwall Council are considering the responses for at the moment.”

The town’s 20 mph speed limits are being phased in throughout the county as part of the council’s 20s Plenty campaign. Parts of South East Cornwall have already had their speed limits reduced to 20 mph including Saltash with certain roads remaining at 30mph to enable the flow of traffic leading to comments from town councillors about the abundance of signage cluttering up side roads.