20 MPH for Wightman

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John McMullan on November 26, 2009 at 13:32

Ahhh, the thing is that there are many people who bought > 20, even > 30 years ago and have not been compensated at all. When Hermitage Rd became a "major through road" they had sufficient pull with the council to get it completely blocked off. Ditto the gardens. Our lovely traders have fought hard to make sure that Green Lanes did not become a red route and with its many sets of traffic lights Wightman becomes a nice alternative for the impatient who have no problem with taking a short cut past people's houses.

As for your comment that Wightman Road is a major through road, not a residential road, I'd have to disagree. Wightman Rd is chock a block full of houses. Compare it to Green Lanes.

30mph isn't that ridiculously fast

Does it really have to be ridiculously fast? See here for a good argument for 20mph in built up areas.

Anyone who bought a place on Wightman in the last 20 years knew what the traffic would be like.

Easy to say in hindsight but not even the council have manage to anticipate and plan for the increase in traffic that this area has seen in the last 20 years.

Permalink Reply by StephenBln on November 26, 2009 at 13:52

A little physcological trick would be to use metric signs - 32km/h sounds a lot faster tham 20mph..

Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on November 26, 2009 at 15:27

@Stephen: precisely the thought that occurs to me every time I cross the border from N.Ireland to the Republic. The former is still of course in thrall to all things Imperial - even road markings. The latter ditched its imperial leanings some years ago - with some noticeable reduction in its annual highway massacre.

@Dominic: 'Wightman Road is a major through road, not a residential road.' ???
With more than 370 large Victorian houses and six blocks of flats(all of which translate, probably, as at least 800, maybe 1000 households) Wightman Road is one helluva lot more residential than your own hermetically sealed, pampered, protected and resident-friendly Kimberley Gardens. You have of course been recently protecting KG's status quo most vigorously to prevent it becoming as 'over-developed' as the Ladder. Fair play to you on that count. I understand how someone from KG might like to escape up Warham or Mattison at about 25mph, then speed up to, say, 35-50mph along stretches of a "non-residential major through road" such as our Wightman. Time for you to appreciate that some of us take a somewhat different view of the world and our residential road. And it doesn't matter whether, like some of us, we've been here in our own houses for 30-55 years or whether, like my single mum neighbour with three toddlers, we've just squeezed into a HMO 'studio' a fortnight ago. For our residential rights, through traffic drivers will have to learn to curtail some of theirs.

@Sally: as made clear in John McMullan's RoadPeace link above, a more ideal approach to an area's traffic calming would be a much more comprehensive 20mphZone: in our case an integrated 20mphZone extending from (and including) your own Endymion Road right through the Ladder (properly understood), including Turnpike Lane, Wood Green High Road (already 20mph), Hornsey Park Road (as its residents are demanding), Mayes Road as far as Station Road/Lordship Lane - or preferably as far as Bounds Green Road.
This sort of sensible approach to a unitary area, where 20mph becomes the default and anything else would have to be convincingly argued for, would (as the RoadPeace site explains) be much more successful, less bitty, less expensive and less needful of such physical persuaders as road speed humps, raised junctions, multiple signage and other street furniture.
It would probably make for more truly residential communities, fewer fatalities/casualties - and even less childish road rage among the motoring fraternity/sorority.

Permalink Reply by John McMullan on November 26, 2009 at 15:46

What is stopping the council just saying, all roads in Haringey are 20mph? I include the roundway in this, you get no benefit in bombing along there at 40mph. I mean, they've done it in other cities in England. Very few signs required...

Permalink Reply by Dominic on November 26, 2009 at 15:52

@John - Cars are around to get people from A to B in safety and relatvely quickly. The latter is important to some extent and a balance needs to be struck. I'm not advocating 50mph down Wightman Road, before anyone suggests it, just 30mph on through roads.

@OAE - And they say HoL isn't a welcoming community?

Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on November 26, 2009 at 16:10

But of course we're welcoming, Dominic - why should you suspect otherwise?
Even motorists or white van men are welcome - at 20mph or below.

Permalink Reply by John McMullan on November 26, 2009 at 16:11

You were just so unsympathetic to the residents of Wightman Rd. I deleted quite a rant before I calmed down. I love cycling around the gardens, it's peaceful and quiet - purely because you're effectively a gated community.

Cars are only "necessary" to get from A to B in safety (and this is just your opinion) because everyone is doing it and not particularly sociably. As more and more people ferry their children around in 4WDs "for safety reasons" would you advocate that everyone gets one?

What did you expect with your "I'm alright Jack, you be the motorway" attitude?

Are you coming to the christmas drinks at the Salisbury? You won't have to cross Green Lanes to get there.

Permalink Reply by Dominic on November 26, 2009 at 16:27

I expected this response to be honest. My point is that 30mph isn't ridiculously fast on a through road. Sorry.

I'd be happy to see 4WD's banned as they don't make life any safer for anyone else on the road.

Permalink Reply by John McMullan on November 26, 2009 at 16:47

So you're admitting that you were just trolling?

Thanks a lot. I really wondered if you were indulging in some delicious Harringay irony.

"Ridiculously fast" = straw man.
"Through Road" = yours is only not a through road because it's blocked off to through traffic. Don't you think that perhaps you of all people should be more sympathetic to those who have not managed to get the council to block off their road?

Permalink Reply by Dominic on November 26, 2009 at 17:18

sigh - just expressing an unpopular opinion

Permalink Reply by HoL Site Admin on November 26, 2009 at 16:52

Hi Dominic, Wondering about your comment HoL isn't a welcoming community, please drop site admin a message any time you feel that this isn't the case.

@all Unfortunately, traffic tends to be a subject over which many people hold strong views and sometimes emotions run high. It's useful to offer links and constructive comments and ideas for change but please refrain from comments that are too directed at one individual. An argument is not a discussion and rarely do people change their minds by being hectored. Please see Terms and conditions 2e. Site admin may be obliged to close the discussion if it descends into bickering.

Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on November 26, 2009 at 17:40

@Site Admin
Just sometimes one needs to bring the unsolicited barrage back from one's territory across no man's land to an interlocutor's home turf. I don't just live on someone else's through road.

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