a Danger for pedestrians hotspots thread

[woodie]

In 2 days I have seen 3 instances of gobsmacking lethal driving. One on forest hill, mentioned in t'other thread ,yesterday

a bloke trying to break the land speed record on scutari road. He hit he speed bumps so hard bits of his car flew off and the Crackk! as he hit it brought a few people out on the street in disbelief. Then this morning my least favorite stretch of road,

honor oak road running along fairlawn school. I dont think the van driver saw my daughter as he ran out of patience by canonbie road. He just drove onto the pavement to get past the car turning right to go up the hill. Say a foot away from my girl. He had no windows shes was below window height. So, as that stretch is always stressfull, drivers always in a hurry, it

is my first entry to the list, should anyone wish to chip in.

1)honor oak road.

[Huggers]

junction of Adys/Crystal palace roads with East Dulwich Road. This gives you about thirty seconds to cross the road on the green man. The young and fit have to jog, God knows what the elderly and hesitant have to do. And this is a crossing close to a school used by schoolchildren. Years of complaints have fallen on deaf ears.

Another Instance of gobsmacking lethal driving, this week in my residential street, unlocking my car on road side, I flattened against car to let another car pass, car drove more or less at me and I had to hop round the bonnet to get out of the way. I was just thinking 'that must have been in my imagination' when the car, having passed me, screeched to a halt, opened window and passenger laughed maniacally. Death Race 2000 was on the telly last week, any connection?

[sweetgirl]

forgotton what the road is called, but the road where the 37 goes up at the junction of lordship lane. another really dangerous junction.... a zebra crossing might be good there:-S

[Pagey]

Boy racers make my blood boil, I wonder if it is permitted under government's guidelines into genetics to identify the boy racer gene and remove it from the human species in due course

[east-of-the-Rye]

The junction of Lordship Lane and Dulwich Common - by the Harvester is another one: traffic lights for the cars but nothing to help pedestrians get across the road.

If you can think of any more, log on to www.southwarklivingstreets.org.uk and add them to the collection we're campaigning on, especially if you've got photos to show the problems.

Southwark Living Streets put a proposal to the Community Councils re. the Adys Road/Crystal Palace Road junction to increase the time allowed for crossing - it's currently 9 seconds - and encourage diagonal crossing. The proposals seem to have got stuck between the 3 Community Councils that join here.

[kford]

"Southwark Living Streets put a proposal to the Community Councils re. the Adys Road/Crystal Palace Road junction to increase the time allowed for crossing - it's currently 9 seconds - and encourage diagonal crossing. The proposals seem to have got stuck between the 3 Community Councils that join here."

It's waiting at crossings where the green man is on for an age and no-one is crossing that arguably causes impatient driving don't you think?

[SeanMacGabhann]

nope - impatient drivers cause impatient driving... the inconvenience of waiting mere seconds for a green man to flash compared to the horror of crossing uncontrolled traffic? hmmmm

accidents is a funny word as well - have a look at most accident reports - were they accidents or were assumptions made which turned out not to be true?

[PortValePetitChou]

Corner of wood vale/Forest hill road, complete blind spot for pedestrians with no pedestrian lights, digsusting.

[kford]

SeanMacGabhann Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> nope - impatient drivers cause impatient

> driving... the inconvenience of waiting mere

> seconds for a green man to flash compared to the

> horror of crossing uncontrolled traffic? hmmmm

>

> accidents is a funny word as well - have a look at

> most accident reports - were they accidents or

> were assumptions made which turned out not to be

> true?

Not 'causes' then, 'exacerbates' impatient driving

[blinder999]

east-of-the-Rye Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> re. the Adys Road/Crystal

> Palace Road junction to increase the time allowed

> for crossing - it's currently 9 seconds

That junction is crazy - I crossed there this morning, and I counted 5 seconds of green man time.

[Moos]

Seriously kford, the green man is green for about a nanosecond on that crossing - even if a pedestrian sets out briskly as it turns green, he will still be crossing when it starts to beep.

If that causes you to be impatient then you've got bigger worries - for example, the way your life may be shortened by stress.

[Pugwash]

Not in the ED area but the traffic lights outside Kings - even the fit and non wounded can only get over three quarters of the road before lights change. One day - poor old soul with a rollator frame was half way and bikes were wizzing past her and cars hooting.

[sallyfran]

I second that junction by the Harvester. There is no allowance made for pedestrians at all at those lights - just one set of cars followed immediately by another, and it is a crossing much used by pedestrians and dog walkers going into the entrance of Sydenham Woods. I hate scampering across, and I am at least fit enough to make the dash (at least for now).

[Siduhe]

Can't remember which poster it is (PeckhamRose?) who knows a lot about applying for Cleaner, Greener Southwark grants, but the Melford/Underhill interchange recently got reworked to make it safer for pedestrians and it's been very successful (IMHO) without ruining it for traffic - maybe we should get an application for the Harvester junction together? Is that road within Southwark's control or is it TFL?

Anyway, I live fairly near and would be happy to have a go, if only to cut down on the number of kids who run across the road there against the traffic...

[PeckhamRose]

The cleaner Greener safer award money can not be used to improve Highways.

I know, stupid, isn't it.

[EDOldie]

Dulwich Village traffic lights and the madness that results. It's probably the most congested junction in the area as far as traffic and school children are concerned. I'm amazed nobody has been killed there. The traffic lights are, amazingly, equally unfirndly to drivers and pedestrians, what are they thinking about??

[Applespider]

I'll third (or fourth) that Harvester junction. It's horrible for pedestrians.

While we're talking about that part of the South Circular, I'm amazed there aren't more accidents slightly further up the hill, where cars try to do a U-turn so they can go along Wood Vale. The number of times that the car behind has to slam on the brakes or pull over into the bus lane is scary. Not to mention when the idiot driver can't complete their U-turn and tries to reverse into the oncoming traffic coming up the hill.

[Andy Ashman]

Crossing Barry Road is a nightmare. There is currently a dangerous crossing point just north of the junction with Tyrrell Road, where the pavement has been extended slightly into the road (see google map link - ).

Although the extended pavement helps access, visibility is still limited and drivers are completely confused about whether pedestrians have priority.

I would like to see this converted into a zebra crossing. Does anyone else agree or know how this can be done?

[Izodia]

I used to work in Raynes Park. A couple of years ago there, the council removed all the zebra crossings to replace them with traffic lights in the name of pedestrian safety. So I think zebras are seen as less safe...in practice though I think most people get so bored of waiting for the lights to change that they just cross anyway.

[Andy Ashman]

Agree that there is no perfect alternative, but the current crossing point on Barry Road is particularly dangerous (just a dropped curb on the pavement which is slightly extended into the road - it has neither traffic lights nor a formal crossing mechanism).

If we had a designated zebra crossing (or even better traffic lights!) parking in the immediate vicinity would be prohibited and visibility would be greatly improved.

Does anyone know how to suggest this kind of improvement to the council?

[JenSpen]

I live right opposite the Harvester and definitely have to agree that it is a nightmare to cross there. I'm sure there is a valid reason why there are no pedestrian lights there, but I can't imagine what it is. Everyday when I get off the bus I have to risk my life by legging it across 4 lanes of traffic! Another one which really should have pedestrian lights is where Honor Oak Road meets London Road in Forest Hill, nightmare!

[Burbage]

JenSpen Wrote:

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> I'm sure there is a valid reason why there

> are no pedestrian lights there, but I can't

> imagine what it is.

In another thread a while ago, it was suggested that the Grove junction has been earmarked for modernization, which may include an accommodation for pedestrians. The work isn't yet scheduled, but a preliminary announcement on the development of a framework for assessing the priorities of such junctions was announced only nine or ten months ago. A quick skim of the associated paperwork, however, suggested that allowing traffic to flow freely round the Grove junction is of vital importance in maintaining the Battersea Rise tailback, so although the pedestrian phase might be restored, I very much doubt they'll be handing out lights.

The pedestrian phase (a bit when the lights are red for all vehicles at the same time) disappeared from the Grove junction some time ago. Around the time, older readers may remember, that the 'flashing' phase of pedestrian lights gave way to the contemporary 'blank' phase which is much less confusing for those with intermittent vision. And around the time that a TfL attempt to impose a better 'pedestrian model' caused the greatest simultaneous traffic-light failure in living memory, since which, understandably given the ensuing chaos, TfL have wisely ignored pedestrians wherever possible.

Although that's not necessarily the reason why pedestrians outside the Harvester are deemed expendable, it's certainly the most socially acceptable that I can imagine. In any case, I have taken the liberty of delving into the orange narcissism of a local councillor in an attempt to direct his mind, which is currently wandering on a quaintly disturbing crusade, to this very issue.

[beef]

Crossing the crossroads at Kings on the rye this morning, there were three uniformed police just milling around. The difference was astounding! All the bikes stopped at the red and waited for the green, cars pulled up on amber, no one tried to take an illegaL right, crossing was, for once, a safe and pleasant experience. So the answer must be police on every street corner and every road, preferably armed police to deal with any dangerous miscreant drivers.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Does anyone know why the pedestrian lights on crossroads of Peckham Rye/E Dulwich Road have been boarded over?

I can see no reason for it and it's leading to some rather suicidal behaviour by people crossing.

[east-of-the-Rye]

There's a Walking Audit of Evelina Road Nunhead (yes I know, another blurring of the East Dulwich /Nunhead borders)this Saturday, next Monday and Wednesday, to look at how good the road is for pedestrians - full details on the "What's On" section of the Forum.