Welcome to the forum
Potholes, travel plans, war memorial junction part 1
Dear all,
you may have read comments by Ian Simpson in "Focus". This is our (CTC N Herts) response to him (copied to our MP and councillors). Soon to appear in glorious technicolour with pictures and links on www.northhrtsctc.org > campaigning...
I was interested to read your comments in Focus regarding road maintenance, the Ashwell Travel Plan and safety concerns at the War Memorial junction in Ashwell.
Road maintenance...
Have a read of our Revolution newsletter, you will see a piece on road maintenance. You will also see that one of our Dear Santa requests was for the potholes in Ashwell St and Ashwell High Street to be fixed.
CTC runs an on-line pothole reporting service www.fillthathole.org.uk . It automatically generates a league table of Highway Authorities. Hertfordshire has the third highest number of reports, behind Surrey and Hampshire but both of those authorities have a better clear up rate.
As a result of additional investment we have seen a steady and sustained improvement in condition of the highway network as poor roads are brought up to standard and others are maintained to stop them deteriorating in the future... Rob Smith HCC.
Do we believe him ? I think we must reserve judgement on that, I am much too polite to say what I really think.
You pay for maintenance, whether you do it or not. Much better to pay up front and have good quality roads all the time than leaving them to disintegrate and having to rebuild them. Britain is not yet a third world state, we can afford to pay for our roads to be maintained.
Ashwell Travel Plan...
It is not really surprising that a proposal focused on engineering interventions (humps, bumps and bollards) would be viewed as unwelcome and intrusive. Speaking as a civil engineer, our profession is fine at designing motorways but rubbish at dealing local streets. Whilst a few targeted speed reducing measures would be appropriate (eg on West End, approaching the bend before the Village Hall), on the whole speed is not a great problem. The streets are mostly relatively narrow and choked with parked cars so speeds are low.
So what is the problem ?
The High Street is reduced to single lane width for most of its length by car parking, creating a stressful environment whether you are walking, driving or cycling. As a result, many drivers are remarkably inconsiderate and aggressive towards people cycling. I bring my children into Ashwell on bikes every Saturday morning for various activities and you would not believe how many responsible adults think it is fine to barge a 9 year old out of the way when that child has right of way.
Intervention by the County Council could help ease the situation, but not by putting in traffic calming features. No, this is a problem generated by people who live in Ashwell, and only those people are in a position to solve it. Everybody wants their own car, and everybody wants unrestricted freedom to drive it. But if everybody does, then we have chaos. So, everybody needs to examine their own travel needs, coldly and objectively, to see what they can do to ease the problem.
Ask not what the Highway Authority can do for you, but what you can do for your Highway Authority... with apologies to JFK.
This isnt just wishful thinking, it is called personal travel planning. It has been trialled in a number of authorities in Sustainable Travel Towns and has been spectacularly successful. Increases in cycling of 65% in one year in Darlington. Better still it is cheap, very, very cheap compared to engineering.
That doesnt mean that you cannot improve the Streetscape in Ashwell, it just doesnt need to be for transport reasons. Ashwell High Street is horribly vehicle dominated and the focal point of the village has been lost. What needs to be done is to tear up all of the tarmac in front of the grocery store / Bear Lane, re-pave the area in flags at pavement level and recreate a village square. Push the car parking out of the square and create a meeting place. People can drive through it, but only with care, giving way to people on foot and on bikes.
The pavements need widening throughout. Some of that on-street car parking needs to be replaced by cycle parking, and by passing bays to allow traffic to get though in short hops. It may not be popular (some people would rather lose their children than their parking space), but it is what is needed.
continued on second post...
you may have read comments by Ian Simpson in "Focus". This is our (CTC N Herts) response to him (copied to our MP and councillors). Soon to appear in glorious technicolour with pictures and links on www.northhrtsctc.org > campaigning...
I was interested to read your comments in Focus regarding road maintenance, the Ashwell Travel Plan and safety concerns at the War Memorial junction in Ashwell.
Road maintenance...
Have a read of our Revolution newsletter, you will see a piece on road maintenance. You will also see that one of our Dear Santa requests was for the potholes in Ashwell St and Ashwell High Street to be fixed.
CTC runs an on-line pothole reporting service www.fillthathole.org.uk . It automatically generates a league table of Highway Authorities. Hertfordshire has the third highest number of reports, behind Surrey and Hampshire but both of those authorities have a better clear up rate.
As a result of additional investment we have seen a steady and sustained improvement in condition of the highway network as poor roads are brought up to standard and others are maintained to stop them deteriorating in the future... Rob Smith HCC.
Do we believe him ? I think we must reserve judgement on that, I am much too polite to say what I really think.
You pay for maintenance, whether you do it or not. Much better to pay up front and have good quality roads all the time than leaving them to disintegrate and having to rebuild them. Britain is not yet a third world state, we can afford to pay for our roads to be maintained.
Ashwell Travel Plan...
It is not really surprising that a proposal focused on engineering interventions (humps, bumps and bollards) would be viewed as unwelcome and intrusive. Speaking as a civil engineer, our profession is fine at designing motorways but rubbish at dealing local streets. Whilst a few targeted speed reducing measures would be appropriate (eg on West End, approaching the bend before the Village Hall), on the whole speed is not a great problem. The streets are mostly relatively narrow and choked with parked cars so speeds are low.
So what is the problem ?
The High Street is reduced to single lane width for most of its length by car parking, creating a stressful environment whether you are walking, driving or cycling. As a result, many drivers are remarkably inconsiderate and aggressive towards people cycling. I bring my children into Ashwell on bikes every Saturday morning for various activities and you would not believe how many responsible adults think it is fine to barge a 9 year old out of the way when that child has right of way.
Intervention by the County Council could help ease the situation, but not by putting in traffic calming features. No, this is a problem generated by people who live in Ashwell, and only those people are in a position to solve it. Everybody wants their own car, and everybody wants unrestricted freedom to drive it. But if everybody does, then we have chaos. So, everybody needs to examine their own travel needs, coldly and objectively, to see what they can do to ease the problem.
Ask not what the Highway Authority can do for you, but what you can do for your Highway Authority... with apologies to JFK.
This isnt just wishful thinking, it is called personal travel planning. It has been trialled in a number of authorities in Sustainable Travel Towns and has been spectacularly successful. Increases in cycling of 65% in one year in Darlington. Better still it is cheap, very, very cheap compared to engineering.
That doesnt mean that you cannot improve the Streetscape in Ashwell, it just doesnt need to be for transport reasons. Ashwell High Street is horribly vehicle dominated and the focal point of the village has been lost. What needs to be done is to tear up all of the tarmac in front of the grocery store / Bear Lane, re-pave the area in flags at pavement level and recreate a village square. Push the car parking out of the square and create a meeting place. People can drive through it, but only with care, giving way to people on foot and on bikes.
The pavements need widening throughout. Some of that on-street car parking needs to be replaced by cycle parking, and by passing bays to allow traffic to get though in short hops. It may not be popular (some people would rather lose their children than their parking space), but it is what is needed.
continued on second post...
Comments
War Memorial Junction
Please do not use the word accident to describe the fatality at this junction. Accident suggests that it was unavoidable, unforeseeable and nobodys fault. This was not, it was a hit and run incident where a woman died because of a stupid, reckless and entirely avoidable act. The fine imposed on the driver is an insult, not just to the victims family but to all who are put in danger on the roads.
The problem at this junction is very clear, very obvious, and very easily dealt with. Talk of roundabouts and traffic islands is misguided, these are engineers solutions concrete, white lines, bollards and lighting. All of the things that residents have just said that they do not want.
The junction problem is that people approach it at speed, and turn in / out without pausing to check that it is clear. The reason that they can do this is that the junction has a wide, flared bellmouth entrance with large kerb radii, like the entrance to a lorry park instead of a village intersection. There is no need for drivers to slow, they can take it as fast as they like.
The solution is to remove the problem ie the wide flared bellmouth. A tight turn, with tight kerb radii forces drivers to slow to make the turn. It also creates space space that can be used productively. Firstly you can introduce a joggle in the road alignment just before the junction a very effective and widely used speed reduction measure. Secondly you can bring the footways out, away from walls and hedges so that pedestrians are clearly in a drivers line of sight.
If the Countys safety audit comes up with anything other than this recommendation then I would ask why. It is precisely what Manual for Streets recommends.
Protecting vulnerable children and giving them something to do...
I was talking to a friend who now lives in the Netherlands a couple of days ago. He commented on how his daughters go off to school discos and come back, late in the evening, with their friends on the cycle tracks. He would never have considered doing that in the UK, he would have felt compelled to drive them to and fro because of both fear of traffic and fear of attack. A society that travels on foot and by bike is a society where there are always people about to keep a protective eye on their neighbours children.
What should we do with our under-occupied kids ? Well NICE think we should be encouraging them to be more active. They also believe that we (adults) should be more active ourselves. They have even produced a very helpful report telling us just how we should go about it.
Cycling is just one of many healthy, life enriching active pursuits that children can take up. Dont get us wrong, we love football, rugby, swimming and all sorts of other games. BUT cycling is the MOST POPULAR active pastime amongst children in the UK, and is the third or fourth most popular among adults. It is accessible to all, you can do it on your way to work or to school and you will be making the world a better place at the same time. We want to see cycle training for all children in schools, and support for schemes like Cycle Club Ashwells excellent Go Ride programme.
regards
Alasdair Massie
CTC Right to Ride Rep N Herts
I hope more contribute to this.
Since Ian Simpson left the Parish Council to campaign politically using the state of the roads in Ashwell and surrounding areas as his "focus" I have taken on the role of contact with Highways.
I will be very interested to read other thoughts and submissions which offer a positive and constructive approach to tackling this area.
As to the killing of a cyclist at the junction..you are absolutely right in your expression of disgust. This was not so much an accident as a stupid,senseless,death caused by dangerous driving and ignoring the highway code. It has to be said that the way people stupidly and thoughtlessly park opposite Lucas Lane on the junction forces people to drive in the centre of the road so inducing them to cut corners when turning.
There are many examples of people parking on junctions throughout the village. All present problems of access and sightlines...none are however quite so dangerous as the Lucas Lane/ Station road T junction.