City Road Essay

Another would be that pedestrians seem to be favoured more so than motorists. For instance the islands in the middle of the road, they are there to make crossing City Road safer and more convenient to those who travel by foot. The island isn’t just the concrete mound in the middle of the road, it also includes the paint on the ground around it which cars are not allowed to drive over. Again, the bollards that were erected along the pavements are there to favour pedestrians. The reason why they were put there is to stop vehicles parking on the curbs, which was a problem before the bollards were put in place as the cars and lorries would park right over the pavements making it difficult for people to walk past and leaving less space for people with prams or wheelchairs to go round. Some things favour different groups because they appeal to different groups. Take for example the Taste Buds Cafe; one thing that struck me straight away was that the majority of the customers in there were predominantly female and mostly the older generation. They like to go in there because it appeals to them, it appeals to them because; The price is reasonable- a lot of the customers will be drawing a pension so keeping costs down is important to them, They feel safe- because there are regulars who go there and they get familiar with one another and that gives the customers a sense of safety because they know what to expect and Mr Suarez the cafe owner aids in the feeling of safety through being consistent in the way in which he runs his business. Also the menu is all home cooked and this is important to his customers. Because of all these factors, Mr Suarez’s cafe is geared more towards the older generation than the younger ones so in a sense it is favouring, although that isn’t altogether a bad thing. Lastly I would mention the security cameras. They are positioned all over City Road and they are there for a number of reasons, one reason is that a crime is less likely to be committed in an area which has CCTV (which deters people from offending) and also it makes people in the area feel safer knowing that these things are in place to not only aid in the catching of the people who commit the crimes but also that it is part of crime prevention too. CCTV is important on City Road because it does make the residence feel that little bit safer, a lot of them feel that the road is a bit â€Å"rough† and not the sort of place you would like to walk down at night, even though the local policeman denies that there is a problem with crime in the area. People just perceive it to be a crime hotspot, despite having little to no experience of any serious crimes having taken place on the road. Most of the material things on City Road favour one group over another but some inadvertently and some deliberately, the issue with the busses for example is inadvertent. They are not purposely designed to be inconvenient to a certain