Speed cameras

Oh bloody hell.

The tory side of the national coalition has won out on speed cameras. We all know that they work. People slow down. Point speed cameras have an impact but average speed cameras are fantastic. Average speed cameras result in 99%+ speed limit adherence over the area they cover.

Well documented that speed limit adherence saves lives. Its not just well documented but peer reviewed research papers have proven it. Many are peevish about how safe they are and speed limits should’nt apply to people that drive as they do. Well everyone feels safe until that crash.

The revenue from speeding fines goes direct to the treasury and does’nt touch the sides of the enforcing authority the treasury then allocates funds to run cameras as per politician decisions. This was a silly change made by labour that urgently needs to be reversed.

Tory minsters have stated they’re ‘ending the war on motorists’. With this they mean they’re reducing the funds allocated to run speed cameras. So when we see more children killed, more multiple pile ups you know exactly which person is responsible – tory Secretary of State for Transport Phil Hammond. Of course speeding in our country is considered by most as ok until they’ve had the impact on family or circle of friends of a crash. Hopefully this selfish attitude will change as our country becomes more mature over speed as it did over drink driving all those years ago.

In a sane world local authorities would keep speed cameras fines and have to fund the cameras themselves. If residents think their council is overly zealous in enforcing the LAW about speed they vote them out. It’s called democracy.

In the mean time many local authorities are closing shop on speed cameras – Swindon, Oxford are some of the first.

Motorbikes in Transport for London bus lanes

TfL have just started the second trial of allowing motorbikes in its bus lanes across London. The first trial was a failure in that motorbikes were found to break the speed limit more and have more collisions and more serious collisions. By any measure the trial has shown this idea should end. Repeating a failed trial is abject failure in political leadership by Boris. By repeating the trial he will presumably keep the motorbike lobby happy but at what cost to London.

The first trial suggests no increase in cyclist casualties. I suspect many cyclists have voted with their bikes. I now avoid such Tfl bus lanes and cycle slightly less. It was bad enough to be buzzed by a motorbike before but with such bikers buzzing at greater speeds I am even less inclined to cycle along TfL bus lanes. I’m very fortunate that in Southwark my route to and from work only has Southwark bus lanes.

Do you think motorbikes should be allowed in bus lanes?

Walkscore – walk this way

Walk Score helps people live a carfree lifestyle by measuring how walkable a place is – not just how pretty the area is for walking. The Walk Score uses data and mapping from Google Maps to provide coverage of the walkability of any address in the world.

Although it only gives an approximation of walkability, Walk Score believes it is useful tool to motivate people to get out and walk. Walk Score shows amenities within walking distance – such as restaurants, shops, parks, schools or libraries – and awards points depending on the closeness of the amenity, with the most points awarded for those within 400m. Locations are scored within a range of 0 and 100: from the “Walkers’ Paradise” where most errands can be  accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car, to the “Car-Dependent” where there is virtually no neighbourhood destinations within walking range – the only place you can walk is from your house to your car. 

Tintagel Crescent scored 93/100 – walker’s paradise.

Heber Road – 65/100 – somewhat walkable.

Henslowe Road – 85/100 – very walkable

Have a look at your street www.walkscore.com  Name your street and state London and away you go.

“fat cats”

Yesterday Boris announced the Olympic “fat cats” segregated car lanes to usher all those self important Olympic officials, sponsors and media people around – and the much fewer athletes of course.

Why?

So not only is every Londoner paying extra £20 council tax every year to over a dozen years exclusively to subsidise the Olympics but our roads will be barred from us on pain of a £200 per incursion.

Why are these and why do they think they are more important than any other human being?

This is not the egalitarian ethos I’d have presumed the Olympics was all about.

Cycle Superhighway CS7

I’ve had much involvement when I was Southwark Council – Cycling Champion as a councillor. The negotiations with Transport for London were more focused on how quickly they could install the highways than how effective they would be. They had been hoping to get them finished in time for the local election earlier this year.

A major achievement was the agreement to make Southwark Bridge Road 20mph. This should ensure the majority of the CS7 in Southwark is along street that are either 20mph or can’t be driven at greater than 20mph. The blue rinse cycle path Boris insisted on will mean something on these streets in Southwark.

Unfortunately, the new crossing over Newington Butts are virtually unusable and I’ve witnessed many who are ignoring them. I’ve asked how we can get Transport for London to install normal safe crossing lights.

My request for the route to use Oswin Street rather than Elliots Row which was ignored and no explanation given.

The new blue cycle lanes appear to be a straight paint over the previous road markings. I’ve had a couple of reports highlighting this new surfacing is much slippier than the previous surface.

Hopefully these routes will prove much safer than before but it wont be from 

Elephant&Castle southern roundabout

Work has started changing the E&C southern roundabout to a signalised junction.

The plans look to more civilise the this area and should make it much better for pedestrians who will be able to cross at street level rather than via forbidding underpasses. Also, should be an improvement for cyclists.

So good for getting from A to B and also good for reducing fear of crime.

I still think it could be even more ambitious but its taken years to get Transport for London to even agree these changes.

Boris robs pedestrians of crossings

Under London Mayor Boris Johnson, Transport for London is looking to remove pedestrian crossings and traffic lights. Where he can’t remove them he’s having them reviewed to reduce the amount of pedestrian green time. At other sites he’s having a count down to rush pedestrians along. You never see countdowns for cars do you.

One set of traffic light removals that have a pedestrian phase will sever a designated cycle path – junction of Southwark Bridge Road with Union Street.

Three sets of pelican crossings along Tooley Street will be removed. Apparently he hates having to stop at these when he’s cycling to or from the Mayoral penthouse – people talk to him – so they’re going.

Why is this happening? Transport for London has stated they want to facilitate traffic movement. Perhaps they’ve forgotten anyone driving a vehicle has to get out and walk at some point.

Instead Transport for London should be putting the traffic signals data on the web. Bags of community spirited residents would then think how to squeeze more out of the existing lights for everyone. For example the junction of Denmark Hill with Coldbarbour Lane and Daneville. The Daneville arm is one -way east bound. It should be green for pedestrians whenever red for traffic. But no, only green once in a blue moon.

I suspect the root cause of all this comes from Boris being a headbanging cyclist. The short that charge around. I’ve seen him ignore red lights and cycling along one way streets the wrong way. Such cyclists are a tiny minority but boy do they give the majority a bad name and crucially they don’t respect people walking or see the need for special softer facilities for cyclists.

Hopefully Boris wont last beyond the next election and TfL can then work on what’s best for ALL Londoners.

Bus Route 12 changes

From November 2011 the bendy buses on bus route 12 will be changed to normal double deckers. This will make the lives of those on Etherow Street far more bearable. I’ve just responded to the formal consultation.

To compensate for smaller passenger loads per bus more buses will run. So overall slightly better frequency. Equally bendy buses have a reputation as ‘free buses’ so capacity can be marginally reduced as you can’t get on a normal double decker without paying.

Only caveat I have is that countdown real time bus information wont be isntalled at all bus stops. Waiting around for 30 minutes at nighttime is bad enough but not having information if a bus is cancelled could see a wait of upto 90minutes. Having information means passengers can change their plans.

What do you think?

136 Southwark deaths every year

Accroding to a report produced by Dr Brian Miller for IOM 136 Southwark residents die prematurely every year. Six of those every year in East Dulwich ward. This means on average we’re ALL dieing 3 weeks earlier than necessary but equally importantly suffer problems and complications due to poorer health from air pollution.

http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Health_Study_%20Report.pdf

To combat this the London Mayor is closing down the Western extension of the Congestion Charging Zone, and has delayed other planned measures. 

We all have a part to play – walking and cycling more and reducing cars less. Insulating our homes more so we use gas boilers less. Less packaging so fewer and lighter lorries.

But London and each borough also need to do their part. In East Dulwich we’ve created a carbon fund to help with simple measures to reduce CO2 which happily sees fewer other conmbustion products that cause air pollution.

Are you doing your bit?

London- dirtiest air in Europe

Its very sadly official that London has the dirtiest air in Europe.

Under EU regulations UK is allowed no more than 35 ‘bad air’ days a year. Last week London recorded its 36th already – not even half way through the year.

It seems clear that London Mayor Boris Johnson is not taking anywhere near enough actions to fix this and in fact is making it worse by cancelling the western extension of the Congestion Charging Zone. We need a proper Clean Air Zone (http://www.glalibdems.org.uk/resources/sites/217.160.173.25-3e54d44dcb2780.65885247/Clean+Air+Zone.pdf) as proposed by London Lib Dems.

2012 Olympics will see a world focus on London and our air pollution levels have the potential to very publicly humiliate London and the UK.