A car tried to overtake a stationary queue of vehicles that had stopped to let children use a zebra crossing, narrowly missing the two young people using the crossing.
Shocking footage has been shared of the incident on High Street in Ogmore Vale, on Thursday, September 22. The two children waiting to cross the road had earlier been ignored by a series of vehicles who drove straight through the zebra crossing without slowing down.
CCTV footage shows that two cars did finally stop for the children who them started to cross believing it was safe. However a third vehicle coming up behind them did not slow down and instead moved into the oncoming carriageway to overtake the two stopped cars. It was driving into the path of the children.
Stephen Harris, who captured the incident on his CCTV said: "It’s absolutely insane - another couple of seconds and one or two of them could have been killed.
“Cars are always parking on the zigzag crossing because of the shop and on this occasion, my wife saw the four cars that didn’t stop at the crossing and then when two cars did stop, a car overtook to park outside the shop and nearly took the two kids out.
“Drivers don’t stop and it would almost be safer if they moved the zebra crossing completely because you expect cars to stop for you to cross and they don’t. Nobody gives way to pedestrians at all.”
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Mr Harris says he also has had “a few narrow escapes” while crossing the road on this particular zebra crossing. He added: “The crossing was put there years ago because there was a local school - which has now closed down - so that reason for the crossing no longer exists. So in my mind, it should go, because it’s more dangerous crossing there.”
Mr Harris sent the footage to his neighbour Rhiannon Wright, who was shocked at the incident that took place. She said: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it - I felt sick…If the car was moving any quicker it would have hit both of them. I put it on Facebook to show everyone what is happening in the Valleys.
“People just park on the zigzags and a lot of cars are not stopping for people at the Zebra Crossing. It was put there for the school, but people, especially the elderly and children still use it. Children are told to ‘cross by the zebra crossing and cars will stop’ but the number of cars that don’t stop at all is ridiculous.”
She added: “I have two young children as well and I dread to think what could happen, that could have been my child. The crossing should stay there but maybe traffic lights should be added to it to make cars stop. Cars will stop then and then people can cross safely.”
Rhiannon decided to speak out and take action because she feels “it could save somebody getting hurt.” She reported the incident to South Wales Police's road traffic incidents team, GoSafe, this morning and claims that she received an email soon after saying that no further action will be taken.
A South Wales Police spokeswoman said: "South Wales Police received a report through Operation Snap of dangerous driving on High Street in Ogmore Vale which occurred on Thursday 22 September. In the footage submitted, the vehicle number plate is unreadable, therefore no further action can be taken. The index must be visible for Operation Snap to proceed. Officers from our Roads Policing Unit are carrying out increased patrols in the area.
"Through Operation Snap – which has been adopted by all four police forces in Wales – anyone who has dash cam footage of others driving dangerously or carelessly can submit it online. Road users can submit footage or photographs of driving offences by visiting https://gosafesnap.wales/ or https://gosafesnap.cymru
"South Wales Police takes safety on our roads extremely seriously, and we will take positive action when appropriate in order to educate about, promote and enforce road safety."
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