Slade Green Traffic Calming - Bridge Road Humps
Twenty years on, BBC News (12/08/23) reports "Spending on pothole repairs on Britain's roads has halved in thirteen years. The UK has cut more from its maintenance budgets for roads than 12 other major nations." Even so, millions of pounds have been spent on green unfriendly traffic calming schemes, wrecking the quality and efficiency of our roads, and taking them backwards to a land that time (should have) forgot.
Most people would rather see public money spent on improving our roads, not wrecking them!
Give Us The Hump! Bridge Road is one of two main access routes into Slade Green and is used by all sorts of traffic. Double-decker buses, heavy goods vehicles and large mobile cranes. When the issue of a few speeding vehicles was highlighted by a couple of accidents, amongst other things, Bexley Council decided to give residents the hump. Not liking the look of what Bexley Council was proposing, and the amount of money it would cost, £300,000, we attended the so-called public consultation meeting at the Howbury Centre. We also wrote to them.
Speed Cameras? At the meeting, we asked instead for a couple of strategically placed, clearly marked speed cameras. Problem solved! Or at least it should have been. However, the Council's 'not very helpful' response at the meeting was, "We don't do speed cameras, we only do road humps." Of course, £300,000 would also pay for quite a few hours of traffic cops, but that too was out of the question. Bexley Council, it seems, were determined to spend OUR money on making a mess of OUR roads, despite anything anyone had to say!
Wreck The Roads! The fact is, unsurprisingly, road humps and speed cushions are not very popular. Why? Because they wreck the roads! They are not even the best solution to speeding vehicles, as they are not uniform in their effect on different vehicles. Wider vehicles can still do 60mph over a speed cushion. They are also green unfriendly, causing additional pollution and wear and tear on vehicles and make driving on the roads uncomfortable. They cause impediment to emergency vehicles and are a problem for ill and injured people travelling by ambulance. They also can, and do, especially when wet, have motorcyclists off of their bikes. They also add to noise pollution, causing trailer banging and additional engine noise. Speed cushions also involve additional double yellow lines, diminishing still further available parking.
Backward Thinking! None of these problems can be attributed to speed cameras, which would have uniformly sorted out ordinary speeding issues. If they are clearly marked, everyone can see they are there and they slow traffic to a safe and appropriate speed in places where deemed necessary - without any of the negative factors. Looking at what the Council were currently proposing, residents would have to put up with more problems from an expensive, archaic and backward-thinking scheme, with all of its negative factors, which lacks efficiency and which will not calm traffic across the board.
No Vote! Residents were not given a vote on this. Nor were we listened to. We were told that this is what £300,000 of our money is going to be spent on, even though we were not in agreement. Apparently, the scheme was authorised by Councillor Francis. When asked if Councillor Francis had any experience in the areas of Traffic Planning, Mr Bob Clark of Bexley Council's Traffic Planning Department, said that this was, "Not a requirement." So somebody who is 'not required to have any understanding', signs a cheque for £300,000 to pay for a poorly thought out scheme that has met with a high degree of public ridicule and disapproval. That's not great, either!
Consultation A Farce! Mr Bob Clark of Bexley Council's Traffic Planning Department did remark that the public were consulted. Actually, to put the picture more accurately, we were not consulted so much as told that this is how it's going to be, like it or not. A few alterations were made to parts of the scheme that were completely idiotic to begin with after the general public were 'consulted'. For example, there was originally a proposal to put a road hump right across Slade Green Road, the no-through section serving several warehouses, including the main Boots 24hr warehouse, a large builder’s merchants, a large steel / machine shop company and many smaller firms. Meaning if it had been put in, residents here would have been putting up with all sorts of additional noise and trailer banging from the articulated lorries. Some heavily laden vehicles have to slow to about five mph to go over these humps, because of their loads, and they're still noisy. So, as well as trailer banging we would be putting with constant slowing and accelerating of diesel engines at all times of day and night.
Not Listened To! Along with humps in Bridge Road, Bexley Council were also proposing two illogical mini roundabouts, making them accident hazards, and another ridiculous priority give way scheme further down Slade Green Road. This was to go with the other ridiculous priority give way scheme they had already put in Howbury Lane. Yes, we complained about that too and suggested they put the money towards the roundabout we asked for at the top Bridge Road, a scheme which had many positive advantages (outlined to Bexley Council) and would save residents and workers thousands of miles every year. But no! Again, we were not listened to, and this nonsense scheme, likewise, was also imposed upon us. Bexley Council also planned to plant their plop all over Manor Road as well. The only other access route into Slade Green, also heavily industrialized. Oh yes, and we still have no roundabout at the top of Bridge Road, meaning people still have to go exactly one mile out of their way, often hampered by and contributing to serious congestion, through 5 sets of additional traffic lights, to the next one and back!
No Say! The bottom line is we were not asked what we would like and we were not given a choice! We did stress a preference and comment, and in our eyes, came up with better and more efficient solutions, but we were not listened to. We have not got what we wanted and we are £300,000 worse off. It seems we can't have any say in where OUR money goes and what it is spent on and we can't have the best and most sensible solutions. Even when we come up with good ideas, we're ignored. Bexley Council in their arrogance, insist on spending public money, undemocratically, on something that is unpopular, inefficient, green unfriendly and not the best solution on offer. A scheme that causes all sorts of problems and brings with it a considerable number of negative factors. Residents and workers will now be expected to put up with this mess for many years to come, screwing up the traffic infrastructure on Slade Green and degrading everyone's quality of life!
A Letter to Bexley Council regarding the scheme's proposal, pointing out the many disadvantages and complaining
about the fact that this will, once again, cause problems for residents and degrade our quality of life.
RE: PROPOSED TRAFFIC CALMING MEASURES FOR SLADE GREEN
01/09/03
Dear Mr Clark,
We are writing to protest about the proposed traffic calming measures for Slade Green and to point out that, in the opinion of most people, these ideas beggar belief. This scheme is not at all welcome by the majority of us of that live on Slade Green and many people are now completely fed up with having our hard-earned money wasted on unpopular and retrogressive traffic schemes that cause additional congestion and pollution and have a high 'pain in the backside' factor. These kinds of measures are not appropriate for what are prime access routes in and out of Slade Green. We did not want the obstacles in Howbury Lane and we do not want them anywhere else either. We would therefore like to request that Bexley Council remove the obstacles in Howbury Lane and abandon its proposal to use this type of scheme in and around Slade Green. If you want to slow traffic in any particular place, public opinion, as has already been pointed out to Bexley Council, has a preference for clearly marked speed cameras and not speed humps or kerbstone appendages and other such obstacles.
We have asked Bexley Council on several occasions to implement a roundabout at the top of Bridge Road, which would be a good idea, and the fact that this idea, and other useful ideas, have been completely ignored and yet an idea like this proposal for Slade Green can be given serious consideration says a lot about current traffic planning in the eyes of many people. Current policy and most of us that live and work in and around Slade Green seem to be in complete disagreement with what is needed and what constitutes a good idea in the first place. As has already been pointed out to Bexley Council, we do not want this kind of scheme. We do not like to be held up unnecessarily, we do not like the additional pollution, noise, or the inconvenience, that results from this type of scheme and we do not like the discomfort of road humps. We would in fact prefer that if the local authorities want to 'drop plop' on the roads that they do it in the potholes and on the sections of carriageway that need resurfacing. As we have said, we understand that there is a need to slow traffic in some places and are happy to have clearly marked speed cameras if deemed necessary. If you do not have the jurisdiction to deploy clearly marked speed cameras, in our opinion, this is where you should be focussing your effort.
It is hard to see how Bexley Council can be considering road humps for routes that are used by articulated lorries and commercial vehicles. Are Bexley Council not aware of the noise caused by trailers bouncing over the humps? It is bad enough with the potholes, never mind putting in additional humps and bumps.
With regard to a twenty mile an hour speed limit, it will not be possible to enforce this thoroughly, and the end result is that it will be largely ignored by persistent offenders anyway and will therefore just further inconvenience the ordinary law abiding person who is not causing a problem to begin with.
Presumably the proposals relating to pedestrian islands in roads that are so narrow they don't even need them anyway, would have to be accompanied by yellow lines to prevent vehicles from parking either side as there is not enough room for both. Haven't we got enough parking problems without Bexley Council making matters worse? The idea is to simply cure problems, not create additional ones in the process. What is the point in fixing a fault and putting another fault in its place? The ideas proposed for Slade Green are, in most people's eyes, completely unnecessary and a complete waste of our money, but more than that, they are collection of haphazard measures that will just degrade the quality of life for the people that live and work in Slade Green. We, therefore, are not in agreement with the scheme's implementation and request that you abandon its implementation in favour of something more agreeable.
Yours faithfully,
D.J. Tarrant