Thursday 25 July 2013

Can we make Mitcham Lane safe for everyone?

Locals to Tooting, may have seen the #SavetheWheatsheaf petition which I set up last Saturday. Amazing the amount of support that has been gathered in less than a week. 

This has got me thinking about the possibilities of local campaigns on my more familiar territory of #saferstreets, and how I could promote this batch of petitions and others.

Thanks to Google for streetview image - I've tweaked it a bit as you can see.
I now live near Mitcham Lane, which for those of you who don't know it, it's an A road, and pretty wide as you can see (Original google streetview link). In fact so wide that you can have cars parked on both sides, a central reservation and there is still enough space for lorries, coaches etc to pass each way. 

Using Google's measuring tape, and the satellite view it seems to me that the road is at least 10.5m wide (not including the pavements). 

Crossing this road, on foot, or by bicycle is not straightforward. 

There is clearly the space for 2m wide segregated cycle routes to be placed on the roadway in both directions ensuring that people of whatever age or ability can choose to cycle locally. 

This would help reducing the school run effect on our roads, as providing safe infrastructure such as this would make it much safer for people of all ages to cycle locally (including pupils of our local schools). 

Yes, some of the on-street car parking would need to be removed, but that wouldn't stop access to off-road car parking which several properties have along Mitcham Lane.

The good news for the motoring enthusiasts amongst you is that as the road would keep most of it's motor traffic capacity so even the engineers who think roads are all about motor traffic could be kept happy. (i.e. we don't need to get those engineers to change their views in order for them to do this type of scheme)

Would welcome your views on this before I set up another local online petition. 

8 comments:

  1. I live just off Mitcham Lane, and it's stupidly dangerous. Cars absolutely bomb up and down it. I will be first in line to sign and publicise any petition to make the street safer for people. Pedestrians and cyclists are obviously very vulnerable, but there are quite a few facilities for children along this road, and so there are often young children scootering along on the pavement. Any more protection they can be given from cars and lorries would be a good idea.

    Also - the street is well known in the area as a terrible place to set up retail outlets, and I strongly believe this is because the road makes the area an unpleasant place to stop. Civilising the road may also revitalise the businesses in the area.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure if you'll get the message below if I don't reply, so just in case thanks for your support, can you email me jon.irwin[at]gmail.com so that we can get things moving.

      Hopefully pick up a few more helpers as we go along.

      Thanks,
      Jon

      Delete
  2. Totally support you on this issue for all the reasons above.
    Amanda

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure if you'll get the message below if I don't reply, so just in case thanks for your support, can you email me jon.irwin[at]gmail.com so that we can get things moving.

      Hopefully pick up a few more helpers as we go along.

      Thanks,
      Jon

      Delete
  3. Hi Charlie / Amanda,

    Thanks both, can you email me jon.irwin[at]gmail.com so that we can get things moving.

    Hopefully pick up a few more helpers as we go along.

    Thanks,
    Jon

    ReplyDelete
  4. Where exactly do you think the parked cars will go to ? People won't dispose of their cars, they'll just look for other places to park; and turning more front gardens into car parking is not the environmentally sound answer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Over the past 10 years we've seen an increase in the number of households that are choosing to live without owning a car. All the indicators are that this trend is going to continue.

      The on-road car parking I'm talking about also obstructs sight lines for drivers when pulling out of side streets as well. Quite a few of the houses that front onto Mitcham Lane already have paved over their front gardens a long time ago.

      To be brief, limited loss of car parking spaces, which results in gain for everyone as people can travel around in a safer local environment, and more people have the opportunity to cycle too.

      Delete
  5. Interesting thoughts. I also live just off Mitcham Lane and one of the biggest annoyances are the cars for sale parked up and down the road. These make it impossible to see clearly when coming into or out of junctions whether you're on foot, on a bike or in a car and it's really dangerous. We've complained to the council who say the police have to deal with it and the police who say it's the council's job. I'd love to see these cars go for a start! Because it's on the edge of Wandsworth and Merton neither council bother much so good luck and please keep me informed.

    ReplyDelete