“It is not a pedestrian transition in its classical sense, and accordingly, until the traffic lights are constructed, there cannot be a pedestrian passage,” the head of Rīga City Council's Transport Department, Jānis Vaivods, said.
“By the rules, as I understand, we have to give way to the cars, and there have been a lot of situations where I and my children go there – you stop and wait for one of the cars to stop, and there is quite dense traffic in the hours of congestion, especially in the evenings; it is practically impossible to cross it when someone does not stop. Once a car stops, the one behind it doesn't know why it's stopped there, and there have been cases where it practically crashes or goes off the road completely to avoid a collision,” said Egils Tišanovs, a cyclist often trying to cross the unfortunate street.
By the rules, both cyclists and pedestrians have to give way to cars even though it is intended to be a crossing. The question remains: how does one cross?
“First of all, there needs to be a reduction in speed [..] to at least 50 kilometers per hour. Secondly, it should be pointed out that this is a crossing. There is also, of course, the possibility of setting up a traffic light, even a warning traffic light, which is an orange light [..]
"The department has identified the site on its own and included it in its operational plan, and in the future, in order to achieve an improvement in safety for vulnerable road users, our plan is to reduce the speed at least on this stretch of Juglas Street and certainly inform the drivers that they are approaching a crossing," said Vaivods.
A traffic light is unlikely to come soon, he added, but signs will possibly be reinforced with yellow frames so drivers can see them.
