Stop trying to kill me at pelican crossings!

Well a couple of murder attempts later and I know I have rattled a few cages.

I know that in life you can never take anything for granted.

But should you be able to legally use a pelican crossing without running the risk of being killed?

Of course you should.

Twice in one day last week I was using the pelican crossing in New Scotland Road, Nelson

The green man was flashing on both occasions.

The beeping was attracting me across the road.

And the red traffic lights were meant to keep lunatics in fast cars at bay.

But no, both in the morning and at lunchtime as I made my way across the road someone went whizzing by – one even deciding to blast his horn at me and prove he had double vision by indicating there were two people in the road, and not just me.

Nelson is among the worst towns I have ever driven in and surely the worst to be a pedestrian.

But this is not just a Nelson disease.

If you think that the crossing in New Scotland Road is bad, you should try your luck on the one in Yorkshire Street, Burnley.

That one really is like a scene from Death Race 2000!

Once, even though the kindly School Crossing Patrol Operative was helping a gang of us across the road, a van, a taxi and a car all went piling through.

On another occasion a motorist wound his window down and shouted at me for being in the road – he got some Straight Shouting back I am happy to admit.

So what is the answer?

Simple. When the lights are on red have cameras positioned in them to snap away at anyone who thinks that a red light is for someone else and not for them.

Surely I am allowed the right to cross the road legally and not risk getting squished.

So is it not time that all pelican crossing were fitted with them?