I can’t count the number of times this has happened since we’ve lived here, but we woke to discover that the traffic island for crossing the South Circular by Church Rise has been demolished by a driver. I believe it may have happened around 21:30 yesterday.
This is meant to be a 20mph section but it is an open, straight stretch just after the bends and traffic lights of Forest Hill, and plenty of drivers think it is therefore appropriate to race down here in both directions just because they can.
If there had been a pedestrian waiting to cross, they would not have been protected, so what is the point of them as ‘safe crossings’? We need much more focus on traffic calming, and enforcement, that will actually make the streets safer for all users.
I agree. The particular issue is the speeding of cars and motorbikes on the bus lane heading West. I have seen numerous issues there where these vehicles do not see that cars are turning across the traffic to go up Church Rise (there is a yellow box, but not visible from the bus lane).
The “frustrated overtakers” are the other major issue - and very likely the cause of last night’s incident
That stretch of road, regardless of the speeds and ridiculous way people drive on it would not meet the criteria for a speed camera as it is not an “accident blackspot”.
With regards to traffic calming, it is important to remember this is the South Circ Road also, and a main thoroughfare for emergency service vehicles. Not to mention a great point for them to pass on when traffic is heavy.
Maybe the first port of call is to contact the local SNT or Road Traffic division and see if a community speed campaign can be done. Community volunteers getting to monitor the speed of vehicles and a period where warning letters are sent to offenders. That would at least get the problem on the radar.
The islands are considered informal points of crossing rather than proper places to cross the road. Those are located by the Fire Station and up at the junction with Perry Vale. The Mayor of London does however have grand plans for 2,000 more formal crossing on Londons roads, so who knows what that might bring. Though I would suggest the spacing of side roads make any adjustments to crossing points on Waldram to be problematic.
I actually do monitor this road for volume and speed, and have a Telraam device pointed at a section.
Looking at data for the whole of April and May, for example, we see that while many cars do stick to around the speed limit, there is still substantial “speeding” above the 20mph limit. The usual way to do this is to check the V85, which is the speed of the 85th fastest cars in the period, which tells you whether there is a substantial volume of speeding.
In the case of Waldram Park Road, the V85 is consistently above 25mph, with plenty of cars (not just ambulances and police cars) exceeding the speed limit. The usual threshold for intervention is 20% above, so 24mph.
Love a bit of data, and have no doubt that this is indeed the case. Have you shared it with the SNT at all? Or even engage with Tfl about it as they manage the road.
I can’t imagine there is much that can be done other than manual enforcement, but who knows, knowing Tfl they will make it an LTN lol
