Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Traffic Calming Measures on Wightman Road
Is there anyone else out there who is as distressed as i am at the state of the Wightman Road 'race track'? The speed of the traffic, the uneven, narrow pavements.....i could go on. Not only would i never consider cycling along this road, but i am also getting increasingly nervous about even walking (pushing a pushchair) along the road, as the vehicles chicane around the traffic islands. Surely, the state of this road is totally inconsistant with the council's policy of encouaraging a green lifestyle and getting people out of their cars.
I have recently been in dialogue with the council regarding this matter, and was given the predictable response of 'can't put in speed bumps due to the strategic nature of Wightman Road' and 'lack of funding' despite the recent 300% increase in residents parking parmits, according to the council due to 'green initiatives'. I find their lack of lateral thinkinging around this problem infuriating.
If, like me, you feel that slowing the traffic down on Wightman Road is a total no-brainer' PLEASE send an e-mail to CLEMENT.FREMPONG@HARINGEY.GOV.UK and STREETSCENE@HARINGEY.GOV.UK informing them of your concerns.
I'm sure we can get something done about this highly unsaticefactory situation and make the Wightman Road area a much more pleasant place to live.
p.s. If anyone from Her Majisty's Finest is reading this, is it possible to get some 'road saftley' speed cameras set up?
Thanks for you attention, Andy Ayles
I have recently been in dialogue with the council regarding this matter, and was given the predictable response of 'can't put in speed bumps due to the strategic nature of Wightman Road' and 'lack of funding' despite the recent 300% increase in residents parking parmits, according to the council due to 'green initiatives'. I find their lack of lateral thinkinging around this problem infuriating.
If, like me, you feel that slowing the traffic down on Wightman Road is a total no-brainer' PLEASE send an e-mail to CLEMENT.FREMPONG@HARINGEY.GOV.UK and STREETSCENE@HARINGEY.GOV.UK informing them of your concerns.
I'm sure we can get something done about this highly unsaticefactory situation and make the Wightman Road area a much more pleasant place to live.
p.s. If anyone from Her Majisty's Finest is reading this, is it possible to get some 'road saftley' speed cameras set up?
Thanks for you attention, Andy Ayles
Tags for Forum Posts: tfl, traffic, wightman road, wightman traffic calming
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Andy, uou may not have seen. We ran a survey on this site about a month ago in which traffic came out as the resdients' number one concern. It's also been pushed by other residents groups for some time. The Green Lanes Strategy Group will be looking at the survey results in their May meeting. I have also suggested to the councillors that they look being amongst the first councils to set up a residents' charter by creating one for Harringay. Councillor Nilgun Canver is keen to consider it. No doubt issues like traffic would figure on there.
The traffic issue is clearly an issue of primary concern for residents. If we can't get some agreement from the Council for real action soon, then there are enough pepole and enough groups concerend about this to set in motion a well co-ordinated campaign.
In the meantime, I agree that concerned residents shoud keep pushing in the right places. If people are writing to the two people/organisations you suggest, I think it would also be worth their while copying it to the local councillors and David Lammy.
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Permalink Reply by andy on
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hi Hugh, do you have the e-mail addresses for David Lammy and the local councillors? i shall follow your advise (pls send to andyayles@hotmail.com). Being new to this site, i am obviously unaware of other group activites!! rest assured, i'm available to support this cause.
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Lammy's and all councillor contacts are on this site - see navbar on main page under local govt. heading.
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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Hello Andy
Couldn't agree more. It is a really horrible road, and I say this as a driver, a cyclist and a pram pusher. A lot of cars are driven along it too fast, and - as you say - the traffic islands, combined with the parked cars, produce a lot of spots where it is very unsafe for cyclists and pedestrians.
It's also quite difficult to turn into Wightman Rd from some of the ladder roads (especially if you are doing a right turn), so you get the additional problem of cars peeking out into the road before making their turn (I know that often no excuse for this - just saying that sometimes it is forgiveable!).
Personally I'd like to see more pedestrian crossing points - surely crazy that there is only the one at Burgoyne Road and the one near the Mosque?
Thanks for the tips on who to contact. I'll do that.
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Permalink Reply by Eddie Finnegan on
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A resounding yes to Andy, Hugh, Alison and any other members who have made similar points over recent months about our beloved speedway/rat-run/residential road. Our Residents Association (WRN4RA) have been similarly exercised about all of this madness for the past year or so. To be as briefly clear as pssible:
1. We ARE the Ladder. Take away Wightman Road and all your rungs fall down!
2. You can't 'turn off the Ladder onto Wightman Road'. You're still on the Ladder.
3. Some years ago Haringey Council/Planning/Signage dept. redesignated your one-way rungs as "THE LADDERS". This idiotic pluralisation (echoes of 'the Hamptons'?) is just estate-agent-speak to allow rung-residents thank their god that they live on the 'desirable Ladder(s)' while the Council and the Roads Authority continue to treat Wightman Road as a necessary rat-run to take pressure off Green Lanes.
4. Calling us 'Harringay Heights' is not what we want either.
5. The 20mph Ladder Zone should have included Wightman Road from the outset.
6. We should all be campaigning for 20mph as the default speed limit for Haringey's roads - but certainly in the first instance for all roads in HARRINGAY.
7.Our agreed position in 'WRN4RA' (and we've had similar responses from the N8 section of Wightman Road) is that ours is a residential road, demanding a properly policed and speed-cameraed 20mph limit, in common with the rest of the LADDER - with proper signage, crossings, pavements and street furniture, but definitely NO speed humps.
If you would like to help us with advice and fraternal support, why not drop in to the next meeting of our sometimes sparsely attended Rodents Association(WRN4RA) this Wednesday, 7.30-9.30pm at St Paul's Church Hall, Wightman X Cavendish.
Eddie
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Permalink Reply by DavidJ on
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Completely agree something should be done about Wightman Rd - it should be 20mph. Haringey have been saying for years that it can't be traffic controlled because it is a designated main road - but this is nonsense as (I assume that) categories can be changed and also there are plenty of 'main' roads in Camden and Islington that have have been traffic calmed. As a matter of interest - what is the objection to speed bumps?
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Permalink Reply by alistairj on
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The usual problems with speed humps are extra noise and pollution caused by vehicles accelerating and braking between humps; slowing down emergency vehicles; bad for cyclists, buses; not very good at slowing down speeding Range Rovers etc.
If measures could be put in place to cause traffic to move smoothly along Wightman Road at about 15-20mph then everybody would benefit. Changing the road surface and road markings could help in this - maybe adding a zebra crossing at the dip in the road around Pemberton would help pedestrians and discourage motorbikes from overtaking on the wrong side of the pedestrian islands.
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Yes, David and Alistair cover several of the main points voiced by respondents to our (still to be completed) doorstep survey. The main demand was for a common 20mph zone, with a light-controlled crossing just north of Pemberton Road - just as Alistair suggests. This would have the added advantage of safeguarding children walking to and from South Harringay PS on Mattison/Pemberton and facilitating more elderly Mass-goers to and from St Augustine's on Mattison - just as the crossings at Fairfax, Hampden and Burgoyne benefit pupils and worshippers at North Harringay PS, St John's,the Mosque and St Paul's.
Our respondents' objection to speed humps was much as Alistair explains, taking account of pedestrians, cyclists, motorists themselves, but especially the residents. Vehicles moving at a smooth and steady sub-20mph rate cause much less noise and exhaust pollution, and less impatient use of the horn.
Remedies should not be more fatal than the disease. The traffic islands and bollards introduced when the rung-roads became a one-way 20mph system have brought more danger to pedestrians and cyclists. While each of the 20mph rung-roads has straight clear carriageway of 3.70mtrs between two rows of properly parked vehicles, Wightman Road's lanes are no more than 2.80mtrs wide, narrowing by 0.5mtr either side of each 'island', winding and dipping between rows of crazy parking on crazier pavements. Vehicles, including heavy trucks, constantly slalom around these islands at anything from 30 to 60mph, while motor bikes skip past on the wrong side and cyclists pavement-hop and 'terrorise' elderly pavement crawlers like myself. This tends to make me wonder why I pay LBH £2.5K Council Tax p.a. just for the pleasure of spending my 32nd year on Wightman Road.
As Andy said, this whole problem is a no brainer. Councillors Haley, Canver and Adamou please note. Then take a walk , preferably each pushing a twin-baby buggy or invalid's wheelchair, along the western (railway) "pavement" of our residential road from, say, Effingham to Endymion. Drop in for a skinny latte in the luxurious lounge of our very own London Shelton Hotel, while admiring the architectural grandeur and superb landscaping of Jewsons' Emporium across the road. On your way back, try executing at least three crossings of the road, say between Cavendish and Allison junctions. Throughout your stroll, breathe deeply and try to sustain a normal conversation.You may then appreciate why we too are thinking of changing our name to effingham. See you at the next Area Assembly Meeting.
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I just read the following from a couple of years ago (I think):-
We were delighted to hear in December that Haringey has made a successful bid to Transport for London for £400,000 to calm traffic in the Bowes Park area.
This type of initiative may be old hat to others, but for me it's new. I just wondered if we could work with Haringey to get a bid submitted to TfL. It's always more appealing if someone else funds it. Perhaps this could be part of a Ladder-wide or Harringay-wide scheme.
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Yes Hugh, that is the sort of big picture thinking that could bring results. Otherwise we could indulge in parochial bellyaching till 3008. Bogged down in our own immediate concerns on Wightman Rd or wherever, it's sometimes hard to raise one's eyes to the mountains.
All the more reason for a site like this to make the difference as they say.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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I lay in bed ill today and counted eleven skip trucks between 0630 and 1500 and one scaffolding truck. They are supposedly not allowed down my street unless it is for access but I'm near the top and I heard them all hit the last speed bump too (there is one outside my house). These were the empty ones heading west, I really feel sorry for whoever has to put up with the full ones heading back east!
I honestly would rather they just took the "7.5t access only" sign down from my street, then at least I would feel less humiliated.
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