I am pleased to say that the road resurfacing project on the London Road in Headington is slowly but surely nearing completion despite the inevitable disruption to traffic.

The kerbs and pavements have also had a revamp and there are plans to put a cycle lane on the south side of the road to match the existing one on the north side.

However, Oxfordshire County Council in its wisdom has installed many ribbed paving slabs across the whole pavement, apparently to encourage cyclists to ride in their lane rather than the adjoining pedestrian lane.

When a white line is eventually painted to dissect the slabs it will be clear which side pedestrians and cyclists are supposed to go.

The slabs in the cycle lane have vertical ribs running in the direction of travel as opposed to the bumpy horizontal slabs in the pedestrian lane, which is supposed to discourage cyclists from riding along it.

Paths are also set out this way so blind or visually impaired people know which side to stick to.

Unfortunately, this has a big disadvantage, as I have witnessed a number of pedestrians catching their toes on these horizontal ribbed slabs and nearly tripping and injuring themselves.

I can hear you say “Why don’t they just pick their feet up?”

Well yes, I agree, but what about elderly folk who can only shuffle along due to disability and tired legs, are we to read about them being injured or possibly killed through a bad fall?

Although the new road surface will provide motorists with a nice, smooth ride, we now have a new hazard on the pavements for pedestrians.

STUART COOPER
Watermill Way
Headington, Oxford