Subject tag: Road safety

26 August 2020

A public notice published in this week's Enfield Independent gives notice that five experimental traffic orders relating to the Fox Lane Quieter Neighbourhood Area will come into effect on 7th September.

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26 August 2020

Hal Haines draws a parallel between last week's protests against Enfield's first low-traffic neighbourhood and the situation in the Netherlands 50 years ago, when Amsterdam's streets too were dominated by cars. The Stop the Child Killings campaign that began in 1971 has shaped road design in the Netherlands ever since, making it unthinkable not to design out the possibility of taking a short cut through residential areas. The UK solved the child deaths problem by turning streets into no-go areas for children, but at a cost in terms of health, both physical and mental.

04 August 2020

London's top traffic cop has reminded us that August is National Road Victims Month and asked us to watch a short film made by the charity RoadPeace. In the UK five people a day are killed on the roads and more than 60 seriously injured. Scandinavian cities, pursuing a Vision Zero policy, have almost eliminated road deaths.

09 July 2020

Enfield Council's revised plans for the Fox Lane quieter neighbourhood, which were published today, will dramatically reduce traffic and associated pollution, noise and road danger over a large area of residential streets stretching from Palmers Green to Southgate. Subject to approval by the deputy council leader, the proposals will be implemented on a trial basis for six months starting this summer.

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01 July 2020

Enfield Council has published information about its progress in obtaining funding for urgent Streetspace schemes, designed to enable more walking and cycling post-lockdown in a situation where people will be unable or reluctant to use public transport. A document recently published on the council's Let's Talk website also includes updates about the status of planned low-traffic neighbourhoods in the Fox Lane, Connaught Gardens and Bowes Primary areas.

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07 June 2020

Enfield Council has submitted a bid to TfL for funding for a number of Covid Streetspace measures: pop-up cycle lanes, quieter neighbourhoods, modal filters to block through traffic, school streets and temporary footway widening. A revised design has been developed for the Fox Lane Quieter Neighbourhood and will be shared with the community prior to implementation.

03 June 2020

Viola Rondeboom of Healthy Streets Bounds Green introduces the new group and its ideas for creating a healthier environment in the residential streets between Bounds Green Road and Bowes Road.

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11 May 2020

The government has told local authorities that it expects them to take urgent measures to reallocate roadspace away from cars to provide more room for walking and cycling 'as swiftly as possible, and in any event within weeks'. They are to include 'pop-up' cycle lanes with light segregation features, more school streets, lower speed limits, pedestrian and cycle zones that exclude motor traffic, low-traffic residential neighbourhoods, and bus and cycle corridors along key routes into town and city centres. Enfield Council's 'Streetspace Plan', announced last week, will incorporate measures of this sort - residents are able to upload their own suggestions on the council's Consultation Hub.

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06 May 2020

Transport for London's Streetspace Programme, announced on Wednesday, is intended to rapidly transform the capital's streets to accommodate a possible ten-fold increase in cycling and five-fold increase in walking when lockdown restrictions are eased. Many boroughs have already started on their own similar schemes - Enfield's was announced on Tuesday. Measures of this kind have already been endorsed by the prime minister and business secretary.

28 April 2020

'We don't want or need to go back to those fume-filled, congested and hostile roads of the past' - the message concluding a letter sent by campaigners to the leaders of Enfield Council concerned about what might happen once the coronavirus lockdown ends. They urge the leaders to to take steps to ensure that, as restrictions are gradually relaxed, high levels of car usage do not return, hindering social distancing and discouraging active travel modes - walking and cycling. Their suggestions include 'pop-up' cycle lanes along corridors for key workers, widening of pinchpoints that present hazards when walking or cycling, and re-allocation of road space at places where queues outside shops make it impossible for pedestrians to maintain safe distances.

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22 April 2020

'Social distancing' has drawn attention to how narrow many pavements are and what a small percentage of the space on our streets is devoted to walking - which is theoretically at the top of the transport mode hierarchy. London Living Streets has published an important discussion paper about how streets should be re-evaluated in the face of Covid. As the authors point out, the ideas reflected the situation in mid-April, and the situation will undoubtedly evolve. At national level Living Streets is suggesting that we contact councillors with suggestions for reallocating space for people on foot where social distancing is proving difficult.

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13 April 2020

Footage on Twitter of the police chasing a drug driver from near Ritz Parade, then along the A105 through Palmers Green and Winchmore Hill, eventually ending in the chased car crashing outside St Stephen's Bush Hill Park.

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13 April 2020

Hackney council is planning to implement measures to curb rat-running during the coronavirus lockdown, with the aim of protecting walkers and cyclists, allowing them more space to socially distance, and as a countermeasure to increased speeding by reckless drivers taking advantage of much lighter traffic levels. By doing so Hackney stands out from other UK local authorities, but cities in other countries all over the world have already done much more to reallocate road space away from cars.

12 April 2020

Detective Superintendent Andy Cox from the Met's Roads and Transport Policing Command has recorded a YouTube video in which he talks about the incidence of extreme speeding during the coronavirus lockdown and police operations against all speeding in London. He urges all drivers not to speed and passengers to ask drivers to slow down - speeding should, he says, be as socially unacceptable as drink driving.

30 March 2020

As UK doctors call for lower speed limits to reduce the pressure on health services, London's top traffic cop has gone online to plead for slower driving and to highlight examples of criminal behaviour by drivers taking advantage of clearer roads to flagrantly breach speed limits.

01 March 2020

Enfield's first two School Streets went into operation on Monday 24th February. Photographs taken on that day in Tile Kiln Lane show pupils from Oakthorpe School strolling along in the middle of the road, free of the usual daily noise, noxious emissions and danger from cars.

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22 January 2020

Police are appealing for help in tracing a 4x4 involved in a hit and run that left a young girl with serious injuries. The collision occurred on the North Circular Road at the junction with Melville Gardens on 2nd December.

08 January 2020

Detailed traffic speed and volume data collected during the 'planters trial' in the Fox Lane quieter neighbourhood area is now available via an online 'dashboard'. Over a one week period in March just under 260,000 vehicles passed the data collection points - 235825 cars, 18,594 lorries, 1682 bicycles and 351 cars pulling trailers. They included 25 vehicles doing more than 70mph, of which 14 were exceeding 80mph and two were recorded at speeds between 96 and 100mph.

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07 January 2020

Enfield's first 'school street' schemes - outside St Monica's primary school and Oakthorpe primary school - are likely to go live after the February half term. The council hopes to complete a further three schemes by this spring. The rate of implementation in the next financial year and thereafter will depend on availability of funding and the degree of interest and commitment shown by schools.

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11 December 2019

People living in Fox Lane and surrounding streets are welcoming Enfield Council's idea of closing roads to create low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) throughout the area and are calling on other residents to voice their support.

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