9 December - Questions for the council
Today I received an acknowledgement to my two week old enquiry about
unnecessary traffic lights in Abbey Road. As
they were removed very soon after I sent the email it seems likely that the
inconvenience was the result of poor judgment by the contractor, there were no
restrictions at the next pedestrian refuge along the road where identical work
was being done. In my reply I asked when the speed indicators were to be
reinstated. According to Andrew Bashford in his submission to
councillor Peter Craske the mess proposed for Abbey Road would make it…
1) Safer for cyclists. Walkers probably outnumber them 100:1 but their lives don’t matter apparently
2) Reduce traffic speeds. Bashford claimed that average
traffic speed exceeded
the 30 limit despite the indicator at Lesnes Abbey recording only 28·9.
Average speed is not a very good indicator; most drivers get close
to the limit and a few ignore it totally. The latter are the biggest problem and
deliberately making a road more dangerous is unlikely to turn them into
law-abiding citizens. Observation suggests that nothing much has changed. Why is
the council so reluctant to find out if peak and average speeds have been reduced
after pouring so much money down this ill-conceived drain?
Incidentally, when I used to drive past the Abbey Road indicators at a steady
30 m.p.h. the sign always said 31 or occasionally 32. However when driving by
other indicators at the same speed, e.g. the one that was in nearby McLeod Road
(Borough of Greenwich) it would tell me I was doing 29. My Sat Nav tells me that
at an indicated 30 my car is actually doing about 29.4. I think Bexley was
fiddling the figures for their own ends. Their dishonesty in some things is
proven, probably it is widespread.