Zebra crossings - do they make the streets safer?

Abbey Road zebra crossing - pic from BBC News
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50547000/jpg/_50547048_010892401-1.jpg

Above the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing.  Due to concerns about road safety, parents of the Fircroft Primary School are calling for a zebra crossing to be installed on Glenburnie Road.  Near the school there are the results of previous 'road safety' interventions, including a raised table and speed humps.

But, do they work?

On crossings, our Labour MP asked a question in parliament recently which highlighted that of the 70 people killed whilst walking in London last year (from someone driving into them in a vehicle) 26% were killed whilst on a crossing.  The other interventions around Fircroft Primary School clearly haven't been enough. The road danger is still clearly felt by those who send their children to school there.

For the families of those killed last year on crossings, and those seriously injured, the crossing provided no protection at all.

In case there is any doubt, I'm totally in favour of creating safer streets. I'm fully supportive of the parents calling on the council to take action to reduce road danger.

However, for me this is the key question that needs to be asked and answered:

What is the principle source of danger on our roads? 

Until we agree on the source of danger, and agree that action needs to be taken to reduce that danger, danger will remain.

For me, the source of danger is people driving irresponsibly, both too fast for the conditions, and without due care for those around them. I feel that we should reduce the opportunities people have to drive irresponsibly, creating safer streets to the benefit of everyone.

I've been petitioning around Tooting to pilot measures, such as those shown below. They have been implemented across Hackney over many years to great success.

Thanks to Rachel Aldred for this picture - Glyn Road in Hackney

There are local examples of similar things which have been done in Wandsworth.

On Welham Road (SW16) it's not the easiest to cycle through, it works better when people haven't parked their cars right up next to it.

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 Or a better example where Elmfield Road meets Bedford Hill.

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Just off St John's Hill, where Nantes Close motorised through access has been cut to Harbut Road.

View Larger Map

By piloting such schemes, we can see how local people will react to them in terms of how they travel through and around Tooting. They've been done before locally, and people adapted. I think few people who live on those streets today would like them to become rat-runs. A number of people are of the opinion that piloting further schemes will cause more congestion. The evidence from other parts of London suggests that this will not be the case. In fact believe it or not, in Wandsworth the amount of distance driven over the past decade has actually decreased.

One thing is clear though, if we don't try it on other streets, we'll never know how it might work in these other locations.

Compulsion is not the answer!

Yesterday I saw an open letter written by the Putney Labour party, regarding the redevelopment of the Putney Hospital site which you can see here.

This was the comment which really hit me:

"Make parents sign a “green transport plan”. Once a school is up and running, all parents should be asked to sign an agreement not to bring their children by car."

For me this highlights a number of things.

For one, campaigning and lobbying efforts from local groups tend to be directed towards the people that hold the power.  So if a party that isn't in power doesn't have full access to information, or hasn't been educated on the issues, they could be excused in part for having half-baked solutions.  But, with walking and cycling, there really isn't any excuse.

The comment above just highlights how for decades our streets have been mismanaged by politicians of every persuasion.

What we really need locally is to design out road danger, that is, people driving irresponsibly. At the same time we design in attractive options for people to walk and cycle. People will then choose to cycle or walk short trips as they will have become the most attractive choice, no compulsion or signing of agreements needed.

Whilst the Conservatives locally choose to suggest that collisions that happen on our roads are all 'accidents'.  Labour's PPC for Putney and the chair of Putney Labour suggest that we can compel parents not to drive their children to school.  The Tories policies mean officers tell residents that, "no-one has been killed there yet" is a reason not to act if a concerned resident writes to the council.  If compulsion is the 'big idea' from Labour, well, that's just not going to work.

Out of the major parties locally, it seems like it's only the Lib Dems, who have been really listening to groups like Wandsworth Living Streets, and the Wandsworth Cycling Campaign who have been pushing forward viable solutions for years now.

Design safer street environments where walking and cycling are properly recognised as a means of travel, and a lot of our congestion issues will evaporate. If the Tories and Labour aren't going to take meaningful action on this, then perhaps it's time for some Lib Dems to be on the council.

Shared frustration at inaction

As regular readers will know, I've been petitioning quite a bit around Tooting of late. The support that I've been getting for my petitions has been fantastic, but not altogether surprising.

The support for my local #saferstreets petitions tallies with a similar support level shown for 20s Plenty across the country. I'm delighted that it seems some of the local Conservatives, and Labour councillors and candidates are now successfully campaigning on 20mph limits.

What frustrates me, is that it seems it takes the approach of a local election to elicit this kind of movement from our current batch of councillors. Over the past few years, I've seen various approaches by local residents asking for our council to take action to make our streets safer fobbed off by officers.

Responses to these calls for action to make local streets safer include:

"No-one has been killed there yet."
"If we made changes there, then we would need to make changes across the borough."

A number of years ago, I would have directed my frustration towards the officers. It's easily done, they are the people writing these letters out to concerned residents, or responding on behalf of the council at committee meetings.  Through my campaigning with groups such as Wandsworth Cycling Campaign, Wandsworth Living Streets and the Wandsworth Environment Forum, I've learnt that whilst errors may be made by the officers, all too often the real issue is the political direction they are given to work under. I also know that the key figures on the relevant committees are aware of both the problems and viable solutions. They are the gatekeepers to allowing or inhibiting any changes to our streets.

The Conservative policies, seemingly approved by Labour councillors, mean that without change more people writing to our council asking for safer streets might be asked to wait for someone to be killed before meaningful action will be taken.

I'm campaigning locally now with the Lib Dems, as I believe that we need a fresh approach to local politics in Tooting and in Wandsworth. Do get in touch if you'd like to help.

January 2014 - Going to need your help

Those of you that regularly follow this blog will know that progress can be painfully slow at times. That said, we may be close to a breakthrough.

Early in January 2014 (exact dates to be confirmed) the consultation pack for Fishponds Road area will be delivered. This is as a result of a petition that I presented to the council back in July 2012. That petition asked the council to trial an approach that works elsewhere basically to see if we can make our streets safer.

If it goes ahead, works, and people still want to keep it, we could end up with the roads having this type of arrangement on them:

Thanks to @psimonk and @Labourstone for the picture - Somers Road, Walthamstow

The consultation has to be approved, so that we can trial, using temporary measures, barriers which will have the same effect on certain streets. The council will deliver the consultation pack to around 2200 households. The council have asked for a response rate of around 40% (higher than turnout in some local elections). 

The longer a pack is in someone's home, and they haven't looked at it, the greater the chance of it hitting the recycling bag. I'm getting a team together so that when the pack goes out, we can door knock and ask if people have responded. 

95% of the people I asked, when I originally ran the petition were happy to support it. Next big ask is getting a good response rate. Can you help? 

More petitions formally presented to Wandsworth Council

This email just came in:

"I can confirm that your petitions relating to (i) a pilot traffic scheme in Smallwood Road / Fountain Road ; and (ii) making Mitcham Lane safer for all were presented to the Council at its meeting yesterday evening by Councillors Ben Johnson and Leonie Cooper respectively.

The Director of Environment and Community Services will look into the issues raised and report to a future meeting of the Strategic Planning and Transportation Overview and Scrutiny Committee. I will send you a copy of each report as soon as it is published."

The petitions presented last night at the full council had a combined total of over 1000 people. I'm still working on a few more petitions in Tooting. If you'd like to help out make our streets safer, drop me a line.

All those signatures don't appear by magic. 

Big thanks to you if you have signed them. Don't forget you can see some of the current petitions via the link at the top right of the page. 

'Let's make Mitcham Lane safe for all' petition handed in!

Yesterday I braved the cold, to cycle to City Hall and hand in our petition to make Mitcham Lane safe for all. Caroline Pidgeon AM, leader of the Lib Dem group at the London Assembly came out to show her support.

The specific petition ask was as follows:

We, the undersigned, call on TfL and Wandsworth Council to make changes to Mitcham Lane so that cycling can be an option for everyone, not just the fit and the brave.

It was addressed to both TfL (hence handing it in at City Hall, as our current Mayor Boris Johnson is the chair of TfL) and Wandsworth Council. Almost 550 people had signed the petition, 547 to be precise.

In terms of what can be done quickly to respond to the petition, we need look no further than Camden and Royal College Street.

How this will make the street safer for all, is as follows:

People on foot:
The main roadway will be narrowed by the provision of segregated cycle tracks/lanes. This means that people on foot will have a shorter distance to travel to cross the road which is dominated by motor traffic. A narrower road-width for motor vehicles, will encourage by design, drivers to travel at lower speeds. This in turn will give people on foot greater time to be able to safely cross the street. Also this will reduce the potential conflict between people walking and people cycling as there will be a clear space where people should cycle along.

People using bikes/trikes, mobility scooters:
They will have clear dedicated space to be able to use without needing to share what is a busy road with speeding vehicles. This will facilitate opportunities for families to be able to cycle to school, and to the local green spaces without having to compete for space on the road with motor traffic.

People driving:
The provision of cycle tracks will stop the people who currently leave cars with for sale notices along Mitcham Lane. In turn, this will also mean that sight lines for people exiting side roads which lead onto Mitcham Lane are clearer helping people to be able to judge when best to pull out. The narrower road width will as mentioned above slow down the top speed of motor traffic, resulting in drivers having more time to be able to enter the flow.

This is just one, of a series of local petitions that I'm running to improve our local area. Do check out the link on the top right of the blog to see what else you can support. It's only by campaigning together that we can make change happen.

Of late, too much blood has been spilt on our roads, we can, we must do something. We must no longer accept that avoidable death and serious injury on our roads is part and parcel of what goes with living in London. The answers exist. The only bit of the puzzle that is missing, is the political will to change.

If you'd like to help me bring about the changes we need do get in touch.

Progress on Fishponds - almost frustrated

Last night, the Fishponds Road scheme, which readers of the blog may know, went back to committee at Wandsworth Council.

Quick re-cap, I petitioned 2 years ago, to get support to do a trial where barriers to motor traffic would be placed where the dots are on the map below. Got 243 signatures on the petition, and it was over 90% of people who I'd door knocked and asked for their support.

The officers had drawn up a decent paper (13-741), recommending that the scheme go forward to consultation. I raised a few points:

1. Great that we are closer to doing something tangible to deal with the actual problem
2. Unfortunate that the proposed temporary barriers aren't very visually attractive
3. Would the committee ensure that pedestrian and cycle counts are done as well as motor vehicular counts too.

I would have liked to have added that as the scheme is an experiment, perhaps not all of the proposed extra signposts are necessary, which have bumped up the cost considerably as the posts 'need' to have electrical supplies.

All I can see is that there seems to be a desire to completely pamper people driving in the area and treat them as if they are idiots, as if they wouldn't be able to see a barrier in front of them. Then we wonder why we end up with so much street clutter!


Following my short piece, one of the local Labour councillors, put forward their views. The councillor flagged the reality that some local residents may not view the scheme positively. That said, the councillor was happy for it to go ahead to consultation, and that if there was enough local support to conduct the trial they too would be supportive.

Cllr King who is the relevant Cabinet member then gave the impression that as previous consultations, of a different nature, to deal with the recognised problem had failed, that local residents have already had their chance. A compromise was finally reached that the consultation would go ahead, and that a target of 40% response to the consultation would be needed in order for any trial to go-ahead.


So, good news is that we are going to have a consultation.  Challenge is that 40% response rate is bloody high.

So, if you live locally, or in south west London, and think that trialling different ways to make our streets safer is a sensible way to go, I'm going to need your help.

When the consultation document goes out, a lot of people tend to ignore them. People who tend to respond all too often are those who object. I really believe that this type of scheme will work, and will deliver huge benefits to the local area. In fact the officers even state in their conclusions:

There is a possibility that there will be a increase in traffic flows in some residential roads due to transfer of traffic on account of the point closures, but this will be offset by the forecasted reduction in (motor) traffic over the larger area.

If you'd like to see real space for cycling, this is one of the measures that needs to happen. It'll only happen with local support. Local people are more likely to support it, if other local people ask them to.

Will you join me?

Drop me a line jon.irwin[at]gmail.com if you are keen. When the consultation document gets sent out, we can then go door to door.

Together we can make our streets safer.