Victoria Road Traffic calming scheme

Giles

Received a request for comments form from Haringey for traffic calming measures
- North of Upper Tollington Park
- East of SGR
- South and including Stapleton Hall Road.

Basically it is to introduce a 20 mph speed limit for the area and to use speed bumps, raised junctions etc to enforce it.

I'm very much in agreement with it, but if they are saying this is a residential area shouldn't they also do something about the number of lorries who use these roads as well ( particularly London Waste ).

Perhaps a weight limit should be added to the signs as well?

poxy

I live (for the next ten days) on a road with a 20mph speed limit and a seven tonne weight limit. The speed limits are unenforced and the refuse wagons which hurtle over the speed bumps at great speed cause my house to shake.

I have cracks in my walls which have appeared since the speed bumps/limit was introduced.

Colette

Yup, also got the Victoria rd thingy - am generally in favour of it, but I do share Poxy's reservations about the speed humps. Mind you, Albert rd is pretty quiet in terms of traffic.

Giles

I know that Barnet Council stopped putting in speed humps a while back as they found that residents complained about the constant acceleration / deceleration of cars and preferred width restrictions - but on Stapleton Hall Road you still need to allow the W3 through.

Ali

Seem like a good idea to me if it can be made to work and slow the trafic down.
It is good for cyclists and especially for kids making it safer

poxy

In theory, yes. In practice, no. I've come a cropper twice on my bike where I've been side-swiped by cars racing to get through width restriction gates or those intermittant (three single bumps as opposed to one continuous one) speed bumps.

SatNav/GPS speed-limiting is the way forward.

Four Eyes

I used to live on the Harringay Ladder where Haringey also introducing a similar 20 mph restriction and speed bumps a few years back. All I found was that traffic noise was considerably worse as vehicles constantly accelerated and deccelerated as they went up the street and large vans and lorries ignored the bumps and speed limits tearing their way up the road, causing the whole house to shake as the went over the bumps. Only possible thing in its favour is that I've almost been mowed down a couple of times by cars racing down Victoria Road as they get to the junction with UTP.

When all's said and done, Haringey like these 'public consulatation' exercises, when in actual fact , it's already a given.

Busby1

Two things:

For me, who lived in Florence Road from 1945-1953, a road just like Victoria Road, it is unbelievable that there can be such problems. During those years there was only ONE car parked on the road. (I live abroad so haven't seen Victoria Road for donkey's years).

And now? What can be done, what are the suggestions? who has any idea to solve such problems. Where's the answer to this misery?

matt

Car shares.

tosscat

Ban cars of course. Or price them out of usage (faster). I did wonder from an earlier thread Busby when you were saying you hadn't been to Fonthill Road and sounded so wistful, why you didn't just go to have a look, and now I know. Where's home now then?

tosscat

@ Ali - road narrowing is a particular bete noire for cyclists, and don't get me started on speed bumps - my nuts hate them.

Busby1

We've had car sharing in all its forms here in Switzerland for years, (which also answers tosscat's question) but even though successful to a certain degree most people still want the freedom of having their own car. The small percentage of road space gained by sharing in any form is a drop in the ocean.
But here in CH we don't have much of a problem with parking and roads aren't cluttered with stationary cars. Why, well, this is because about thirty years ago it became law that every new lived-in unit (house, flat, etc.,) had to have at least one off-road parking space and that for a given number of rented parking spaces (decided upon at the time of issue of the building permit) a certain number of visitors' spaces. Spaces that are regularly controlled. Most parking spaces today are underground and don't cause gardens or green areas to suffer.
In general this works well, there are a few exceptions but solutions are continually on hand.
Just one more thing. The number plate of the car you drive here doesn't belong to the car but to you. I've had my number plate for 39 years (not the same plate but the same number of course). Result: all cars are insured, the police can check over the internet to whom the car belongs, and one number plate (front and back) can be used for two or more cars. Simple really. If you don't pay your insurance the insurance company notifies the licensing authority and they request that you send the plates back - if you don't a nice policeman will come along and collect them from you.

Obviously such a solution with parking spaces wouldn't solve the long-term problem of Victoria Road but building underground parks everywhere would. They have proved to be a good investment.

matt

I love Switzerland, having been there a few times recently. Worlds apart from sunny(?) SG.