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News and Comment November 2022

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19 November - On patrol in Hurst Road

Tory TweetWhen I lived in Hampshire 40 years ago there was a road I crossed on my way to the station every day which was about three quarters of a mile in length, quite wide and dead straight. It was the only road that would take you to the biggest nearby town, Aldershot, and there was a bus once an hour in each direction. By today’s standards it was a haven of tranquility and had a 30 m.p.h. speed limit.

I don't remember it being difficult to cross or particularly busy but it had a reputation for being an accident black spot. A safety campaign elicited the response from the County Council that they would not install a pedestrian crossing until people had been killed; memory says three people but I may have got that wrong.

Since then I thought it was pretty well known that Councils only take road safety concerns seriously after there had been a fatal event. I suspect that the MP, GLA Member and Councillors pictured here know that too and were out virtue signalling just as they have been about the Southeastern train slashing after the nationalised railway company was given permission to ignore local travel requirements by the Conservative Minister back in August.

It is of course what politicians must be seen to do but it can look a trifle hypocritical.

When our new thorn in Bexley Council’s side (†) attempted to establish the accident statistics relating to Hurst Road the official response was that Hurst Road, despite suffering one fatality, was not in line for a pedestrian crossing.

So once again we have dishonest politicians campaigning for something that their own Council’s policies have ruled out.
FOI

Click extract to read the full reply.

Zebra crossingsBexley Council has used the “pedestrian crossings cause more accidents than if they didn’t exist” excuse before which may be statistically correct but it doesn’t make it any less stupid. Last time they did so I sent a quick text message to someone who started his career at the Transport Research Laboratory analysing fatal accidents and now sells his expertise in the field across the globe.

He replied to the effect that if Bexley Council is comparing a bent bumper with broken bones and burials then they are the total idiots that Bonkers’ readers know them to be.

† @tonyofsidcup

 

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