Our Safety Last?

It's taken me some time to reach my conclusion about the missed opportunity that is the removal of the pedestrian friendly measures in town and it is simply this:

I am no longer going to feel guilty about visiting and shopping at Yr Wyddgrug/Mold or even Dinbych. Both have better pavement space. If Rhuthun/Ruthin cannot get it right, why bother to shop exclusively here?

Here we are, in the teeth of a renewed spread of the new variant of the virus, where news gets blacker day the day, by the hour, and we're about to remove the one measure that helps keep us safe while walking around town. At exactly the *wrong* moment.

In public spaces, there's little anyone can do to keep us safe, apart from this. It's all very well putting up some signage imploring & beseeching us to keep apart but without extra physical space there's little point in the physical warnings. In any case, after first sight, they fade out of view and become unnoticeable. 

In other words, in order to keep your distance, you actually need space to do so. That's a luxury Rhuthun doesn't have. Not without the changes we've seen. It's a real treat to walk up Well Street at the moment and not have to worry about contact with people, knowing that there is space to coexist in safety. It's no longer necessary to step off the carriageway. It saves having to dart across the road in the face of two way traffic and motorists who really don't care and who actually get angry if you dare obstruct their path, even when moving for your own safety.

Those who are about to remove this valuable protection are actually putting us at harm: quite literally. Do they not realise this? All for the sake of a vociferous few on Facebook. 

Because it's a minority on Facebook who have no consideration for those who actually walk around town. They managed to turn around controlling minds simply so that the minority can scoot around town in cars as and when and how they like. 

Never mind that their action puts pressure on those who are disadvantaged by not being surrounded by virus protection of a impenetrable, sealed metal box. Never mind that this adds but half a minute to their journey, when it inconveniences those on foot even more. 

Nowhere in Rhuthun is so far that it needs to have *uncontrolled* through traffic in the town. Why should proponents of through traffic hold sway when those who are actively using the town centre are pushed to the sidelines—quite literally?

And, for those who do visit the town centre, we all need to get out of our cars at some point and actually *walk*. Isn't that the point of a town centre? When set against the safety benefits, isn't the one way system only a small hardship?