Athenlay Road Speedbump / traffic calming help/petition

[lucyannejames]

Hi all,

We are just one of the many many families who live on Athenlay Road SE15 and daily witness speeding drivers using the road as a through way to Brenchley Gardens or Merrtins Rd rather than have to face the traffic calming system on Ivydale or the speed camera on Brenchley Gardens.

The speed at which certain drivers take the top of Athnelay is frankly terrifying and I believe it's just a matter of time before someone or multiple persons get injured.

I wondered if anyone on the forum could help me in my quest to get something done about it having recently seen two near misses I feel very galvanised and will do whatever is needed to protect the families and people that live on that road.

I wonder if a local councillor could help or if anyone can advise me on best way to go about this.

Happy to organise and do whatevers necessary if other residents agree. It strikes me as very strange that all the neighbouring roads have either bumps, or right of way slowing down requirements or a 20 mph speed camera AND zebra crossings and yet we have nothing and irresponsible drivers are taking daily advantage of it to burn through the street.

Lucy

[buggie]

I'm on Homeleigh Rd & would be happy sign a petition for measures to reduce the speed of cars - sight lines to cross are fine for cars obeying the speed limit, but it scares me how quickly they appear when speeding.

Would guess that Renata Hamvas may be able to point is in the right direction but don't think any of our councillors post on here.

[lucyannejames]

Thanks so much for coming back to me. I think I'll do a door knocking petition signing one day and evening this week so I can at least start gathering opinion and support. I've started shouting at cars to slow down but the speed some of them go at is just shocking. We have 2x children under 4 and they are not road aware they are quick as lightning but even as a person myself who knows HOW to cross a road :O)it's crazy x I'm sure I'm going to get a load of anti speed bump comments which I do have sympathy for but whatever works for safety is what I'm most concerned about and all the other roads have measures.

[Gavin Edwards]

Hi Lucy,

I'm one of the local Councillors (along with Victoria Mills and Renata Hamvas). I know that there have been growing concerns about speeding in the area for a while. It's also a significant problem on Cheltenham Road. Could you email me the general details (location/general time etc) of the two "near miss" incidents? I will then use this as a starting point for contacting council officers to investigate this further. It may be that they will need to carry out a traffic survey to gather further evidence first. My email address is [email protected]

[lucyannejames]

Dear Gavin,

Thank you I have emailed Renata and I'll email you the details now.

Lucy

[James Barber]

Looking at www.crashmap.co.uk very few reported crashes - http://www.crashmap.co.uk/Search

the Southwark Councul online map used to have an option to show all traffic and speed counts - but the option has vanished again. I'll ask if we can have this restored with the latest data so you can see the average speeds, highest speeds, etc.

With so few crashes it would be unlikely to warrange central council funding - we have so many more locations with many more crashes. But in East Dulwich ward we've used Cleaner, GReener, Safer funding to install traffic calming measures.

Full sinusoidal humps gonig the whole way across the road typically cost ?1,800 each and are needed every 50-70 metres. Plus you need to cover the admins, legal stuff, public notice which typically adds another ?5,000 unless this can be piggy backed with other works.

If you undertake a detailed survey asking people if they#d like full speed humps or no change then you can really jump start this. Typically you'll need to visit repeatedly every home - worth leaving a note people can sign and drop at your home. With a clear majority wanting it things can be implimented much quicker.

The next round of CGS will be late Autumn for works in the next financial year sdtarting 1 April.

Hope this helps.

[lucyannejames]

Thanks James that's really really helpful x

[nunhead_man]

Might be a case for some filtered permeability - see err http://lcc.org.uk/pages/urban-design-1

[Renata Hamvas]

Hello all,

I responded to Lucy yesterday and it's been raised with officers. Lucy, once I hear back I'll post on here and email you. As I mentioned to you and James has posted about as well, this may be something to apply for CGS funds for.

I have asked for speeds on this road to be checked too.

Renata

[nunhead_man]

Get out there in your hi vis .............

http://speed-watch.org/

[PeckhamNicola]

I PROMISE you you don't want speed bumps. I live next to one and as the traffic goes over it my house shakes right through to the back room, a complete nightmare in terms of noise, being shaken around and potential damage to my house. I know as well that the speedbumps at the top end of Ivydale Road, near Cheltenham Road, where the 343 (double decker) runs were removed not long after being installed for exactly this reason.

Some other way of traffic calming needs to be found.

[nunhead_man]

Filtered permeability :-)

[PeckhamNicola]

See thread on South East forum about terrible impact of speed bumps and the hassle to remove them from top end of Ivydale Road/Cheltenham Road a few years ago (I tried to post a link but it seems EDF didn't like having a rival! - google South East forum speedbumps Cheltenham Road and you will easily find the thread). Renata was one of the Councillors who helped to get them removed and replaed with narower pinch points and alternating priority, which is what I would suggest you go for if you mae a CGS application.

Southwark did tell me these speed bumps which span the road would no longer be installed. The roads round here just aren't strong enough to support the thuddung of traffic over speed bumps (mostly at >>>20mph), and unfortunately the council doesn't seem to think to strengthen the road when it does install speedbumps. It would be nice if they spent the money on enforcing the 20mph limit instead (speed cameras, fines, traffic police etc).

I had inserted some other links but the EDF didn't like them either. If you search for 'damage caused to houses by speedbumps' you will find plenty eg Bromley Borough Roads Action Group.

I looked up the Speedwatch link from one of the posts above. Unfortunately it operates only in Cambridgeshire, but I've contacted them to see if they can point me in the direction of any more local schemes. I'd be more than willing to participate in something like that.

[buggie]

Unsure pinch points would be a viable option on Athenlay given all the junctions & hill making sight lines difficult, plus greatly reduced parking spaces. I see cars frequently speed down Ivydale unaffected by the pinch points and with the road not being a bus route/having a typically lighter flow of traffic & them not being full width bumps, maybe those would be a better option.

[indiepanda]

I sympathize with the concerns about the traffic, but I would be careful what you wish for in terms of the speed bumps - my house vibrates anytime something big goes a bit too fast over them - e.g. the P13.

One of my neighbours who lives directly opposite the bump had their house re-plastered only to find it cracked badly not long after it had been done because of the vibrations caused by the traffic going over the bump.

[lucyannejames]

Thanks to all the replies

Athenlay is on a hill. I personally am a driver who slows down for the speedbumps on ivy dale and for the filtering system and the traffic speed sign on cheltenham.

I think Renata's reply has been very helpful so let's see what happens now she's raised it to see if any plans in place.

[PeckhamNicola]

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1540988

more problems with houses shaking after installation of speed bumps. Just saying...

[PeckhamRose]

I certainly think speed humps are problematic, especially as we have heard above for structure of buildings. You yourself may drive slowly but all these bumps like everything else, is done because of the actions of the few.

And you would not want to be in an ambulance with broken bones going over the humps.

Also, I had not realised that Cleaner Greener Safer council money could be used by the Highways department to make road bumps.

Edited to add: since Southwark Council spent heaps of money it can't really afford on informing us that Southwark is now a 20mph borough, I think we can assume most have ignored this as people still want road humps. What a waste of money that was. I have found two roads in Southwark that do not have humps. I am not telling anyone which though. They may be the only two bump free roads left.

[nunheadmum]

I missed this thread first time around but, living on Homeleigh, I'd be interested to hear what can be done on Athenlay. So often there are idiots speeding along there at ridiculous speeds and the sight lines are dreadful. We've mentioned it before to Gavin and Renata when they've come round knocking on doors asking about any concerns.

Did Renata ever come back to anyone after her post in May?