Making Roads Safer in Dulwich

[JeremyL1]

In 2006, there were 1,070 collisions on roads in Southwark. These killed seven people and injured over a thousand others, 131 of them seriously. Almost half (490) of these collisions occurred on the 16 miles of red routes that are managed by Transport for London (TfL). The vast majority occurred on our main roads.

Reducing the maximum speed of vehicles reduces road casualties. On roads where 20mph zones are introduced, research by TfL shows that the number of serious or fatal casualties falls by more than half.

Main roads throughout the borough have high levels of casualties, especially amongst pedestrians and cyclists. If you look at the casualty map (where each red dot represents a personal injury casualty in the past 3 years) on Page 11 of Southwark Council's Road Safety Plan (see link below) you will see that casualties are high on a number of roads in the south of the borough including the whole length of Lordship Lane and the east-west route from Goose Green to Nunhead.

These high casualties blight our town centres such as Camberwell, Peckham, Rotherhithe, the Elephant, Borough High Street, Nunhead and East Dulwich. Their domination by at times fast moving vehicles can also discourage people from spending time and money there.

Drivers too can benefit from lower speeds. Studies show that urban 20mph zones improve average speeds and save fuel. As a result traffic flows better. This reduces emissions and pollution meaning fresher air for drivers and pedestrians. New technology also means that speed limits no longer need to be enforced by speed humps.

Southwark Council is working on improving its Road Safety Plan (http://www.southwark.gov.uk/YourServices/transport/RSP.html), but it is handicapped by the absence of a credible strategy for reducing casualties on these main routes. Please contribute to the Road Safety Plan. Our community group, Southwark Living Streets, has adapted its web-site to help local residents take part in the consultation. Please do have a look at our site at http://www.southwarklivingstreets.org.uk

Thanks for your interest. Alastair & Jeremy

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

I would ban cars - that should help.

[jim_the_chin]

i think there's a big case for certain car bans - like saturdays on north cross road.

I looked at the red-dot map the night before i started cycling to work and it didn't fill me with glee. out on the road itself some of the pedistrian improvements on the walworth road seem like bike-traps to me. i wish we had dedicated cycle lanes, like grown up cities do; if we're lucky we get a painted green line in the gutter.

[PeckhamRose]

I do not believe there is such a thing really as Consultation.

Southwark Council already knows what it wants to do and will put in more laws more legislation more reactionary rules and laws and instructions and road humps and signs and more signs and then more rules. Then another law. You can't go anywhere without signs (and there's me, trying to keep my eye on the road but I have to read all these signs!) and legislation telling you what you can not do, where you can't go, and where you can't park. Southwark Council only says there is a consultation to make us all happy and glowing at the thought we have a right to say what we think. The initial poster makes this clear. The second to last paragraph says "Drivers too can benefit from lower speeds". Yep, they've already made up their mind.

[Huguenot]

Ban all parking on LL from the Mag to the EDT. Widen the pavement and install flower beds, benches and bins. Put rubber speed ramps in every 25 yards that don't extend into the cycling area at kerbside. Put raised pedestrian crossings every 50 yards.

Pedestrianise North Cross Road

Install a double-decker car park at Sainsbury's with ticketed parking, and impose residents parking restrictions on roads surrounding LL.

Put raised pedestrian crossings at the junctions of Melbourne Grove, Derwent Grove, Elsie Road and Tintagel Crescent to ease pedestrian movement from the car park to LL.

Raise the pedestrian crossing at GG roundabout.

Ban industrial storage of vehicles surrounding LL. This includes estate agent cars, tyre workshops and taxi firms. Create a taxi rank with four car capacity in front of the leisure centre and those ugly council buildings nearby.

Make all improvements in the Victorian stylee in keeping with the old fence around Goose Green.

Don't do half of it, do all of it.

Contrary to traders myopic views, this will drive foot-traffic in ED through the roof and create substantial business growth.

[bawdy-nan]

huguenot - you weave a vision of heaven

[Huguenot]

What a delightful Huguenot pun! :)

[zephyr]

PeckhamRose Wrote:

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

> I do not believe there is such a thing really as

> Consultation.

> Southwark Council already knows what it wants to

> do and will put in more laws more legislation more

> reactionary rules and laws and instructions and

> road humps and signs and more signs and then more

> rules. Then another law. You can't go anywhere

> without signs (and there's me, trying to keep my

> eye on the road but I have to read all these

> signs!) and legislation telling you what you can

> not do, where you can't go, and where you can't

> park. Southwark Council only says there is a

> consultation to make us all happy and glowing at

> the thought we have a right to say what we think.

> The initial poster makes this clear. The second to

> last paragraph says "Drivers too can benefit from

> lower speeds". Yep, they've already made up their

> mind.

Having just been on a speed awareness course :-$ my eyes were opened to various rules and regulations that are technically beyond the control of the council. The way the system works, for example, is that you have to have repeater signs every so many yards in a 20mph zone. Thjis is because the 'national urban' speed limit is 30mph

Only 25% of speed cameras have an actual camera in at any one time but they get moved around so even i you got flashed by a camera on one day and nothing happened does not mean you will always get away with it. 25% is not enough - this should be higher.

In order to have a speed camera installed there has to be 3 KSI in 3 years (though this has just changed to 4 years). Whilst I don't necessarily want more cameras, I am sure we all know of parts of East Dulwich that may benefit. Banning cars if not realistic at present (though I agree would be good for Northcross Road)

http://www.lscp.org.uk/?homepage

[Eileen]

Huguenot Wrote:

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> Install a double-decker car park at Sainsbury's

> with ticketed parking, and impose residents

> parking restrictions on roads surrounding LL.

Hi H - I like yr vision of LL, but do you really mean Sainsbury's (?on Dog Kennel Hill) for the car parking? Wouldn't that just mean they would all tootle into Sainsbury's and forget LL? While other foot traffic would arrive in LL, that might remove a lot of current shoppers.

[Huguenot]

Nah.

Sainsbury shopping is Sainsbury shopping. There's a vast difference between the type of goods you get there and the stuff on LL. The two venues aren't interchangeable. Sainsbury has already won that battle.

When I did household shopping at Somerfield I bought limited quantities frequently because it was walking distance. When I wanted to buy 8 bags full I always went to Sainsbury because of the broader options.

However, I can't buy deli stuff, prezzies, picture frames, cards, or quality books, or have a pint at Sainsbury for example.

In that sense LL has already won - it's changed with the times. Sainsbury killed the old LL in the early 90s, but our fine local traders have fought back by altering their proposition and portfolio. It would be outdated to apply eighties arguments about superstores to ED's modern high street.

[PeckhamRose]

This is interesting:

"Having just been on a speed awareness course my eyes were opened to various rules and regulations that are technically beyond the control of the council. The way the system works, for example, is that you have to have repeater signs every so many yards in a 20mph zone. Thjis is because the 'national urban' speed limit is 30mph"

So what happened with the nice stretch in Walworth Road, then? No constant signs, no unnecessary signs, and a nice flow. (Apart from the bendy busses blocking everything up!)

[zephyr]

IS there a nice stretch of Walworth Road? Not sure where you are talking about. There should be some indication of the limit depending on the size of the area in question. It is often marked on the road but I cannot remembr 'how many yards' it is supposed to be - I think it is quite a few.

[Reg]

zephyr Wrote:

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> IS there a nice stretch of Walworth Road? ...

Baldwins? The new frontage looks spectacular, and it's probably Southwark's smartest shop at a canter. I think the pavement widening and token tree planting have made a difference, although there is a limit to what you can do for the jaundiced atmosphere when ghetto communities of disparate income groups live in such close proximity.

Hueguenot's shopping list is good, if expensive and even a little environmentally unfriendly (with intermittently raised road levels increasing fuel consumption and emissions). I would just put a 20mph zone down LL eastward all the way to the Chandelier etc. and enforce it with average speed cameras, with 21mph resulting in an auto-fine and three points. Provide highly visible cycling visitor infrastructure in the form of racks adjacent to the road, doubling as protective fencing/bollards. Also, as you say, restrict parking on LL itself, and you have an area of pedestrian safety which could make LL into a leisure destination from outside the Borough. It's cheap, realistic and can happen tomorrow with the kind of political will - so to speak - which you have in East Dulwich. It is also the perfect way to neutralise the only advantage which out of town hypermarkets really have - that your life is not in danger when you decide to browse a different product range.