Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
A plea to drive slowly and safely on the ladder roads
Unfortunately the nature of the ladder lends itself to many of the roads being used as a high speed rat run for people cutting through to either Green Lanes or Wightman Road.
We live on Seymour which may be one of the quiter ones, but I still frequently here cars speeding past at all hours of the day and night.
I have two children and there are a lot of cats in the road too. Sadly, as of this weekend there is one less after our dear sweet Elvis (a black & white felix type cat that was a friend to everyone at the top end of the road) was hit and killed.
Please please please if you drive, do it at a reasonable speed. The bumps are there to advise caution. And frankly, if you don't you risk damage to your car and taking a very dearly beloved pet away from its family.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Wightman Rd suffers from antisocial driving much more than any of the rung roads and OAE, a resident of that road, is always sensitive to it being excluded in conversations around traffic. Your post definitely gave me the impression that you thought Seymour should have less traffic than Green Lanes or Wightman. I'm sure you didn't mean this.
That aside, I'm really sorry about your cat. I freak if ever I find mine out the front of the house.
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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OK, Cara. Sorry about the cat. But perhaps 'murder' is another word worth pursuing.
Nothing flippant about my suggestion.
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Permalink Reply by Deborah on
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Dear Cara
So sorry to hear that your cat Elvis was run over. We have similar rat-run/speeding problems in Vartry Community area, N15, resulting in the recent death of a cat in St Johns Road. Our own cat was run over in Heysham Road as well as our neighbour's dog. A dead cat was found in Berkeley Road, which seemed to have been hit by a car. We have some kids who play in the street & it's not always so safe on our local roads on a bike - some cars go too fast & also don't always look/indicate/stop when turning into another road.
Best regards & much sympathy
Deborah
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Do you think cars are rat running to avoid Warham Rd? I.e. turning left out of Salisbury, along a bit and straight into Seymour.
I've noticed that the traffic at the top of Warham can sometimes take a while to clear so you would get an advantage, and Seymour Rd is usually pretty quiet and in the same direction, if you hoofed it. I'd actually speak to the Police if I were you.
Unseen consequences of the narrowing work at the top of Warham?
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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I very much agree with your sentiments Cara and my heart goes out to you at losing your cat. Mine went missing for 2 days and I was frantic, so your family must be heartbroken.
In defence of OAE (not often I say that) his road is a total nightmare when it comes to speeding traffic and I dread taking my two kids across it despite it being a 20 mile an hour zone like the rung roads. An idea from Australia that ladder drivers could consider is the idea of the Pace Car where residents formalise their slow driving. I've been in a car with Hugh when he does this. It drives the idiots mental and you may find that a few are less than generous in their assessment of your driving but if you're strong of character and impervious to a few insults, it could be a useful scheme for us.
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Permalink Reply by Kit on
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Sensitive and constructive. And Pace Car is a brilliant idea. It would be great if car-driving HOLers tried this for a month. Thank you, Liz.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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Why only for a month ?
Drive at 20 mph or less all the time - it's the law.
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Yes, I'm sure that many people do, but the point of the Pace Car/community traffic calming is to bring the community together around the issue, offer practical ideas for how to bring those who persist in breaking the law (given that enforcement is low in this area) to heel without resorting to the authorities constantly (signs and threats of being prosecuted appear not to deter) and (to coin an old hippy phrase I'm sure you'll be familiar with) consciousness raising. People don't see these streets as our homes, it's a way from A to B, a giant rat run from the 'burbs to the city. Coming across a campaign that says basically 'Oi we live 'ere, drive carefully' from the local drivers themselves brings drivers into the debate about traffic where traditionally they are left out or seen as 'the enemy'
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@johnM "A high speed rat run to... some inconsequential road that I have to drive down myself sometimes." Balderdash. An interpretation you're putting on words that say nothing of the sort. The fact is that people do use these roads to cut through to the two roads that take them through Harringay and they do drive very fast up and down the rungs. There is no implication in the post that speeding down the sides of the ladder is any more acceptable than on the rungs, you are stretching OAE's point to 'defend him' but tbh he needs no defenders. His point was that GL and WR are part of the Ladder.
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Wightman Road and Green Lanes are the origins of all of our traffic. You could even say that Wightman Rd was the origin of all of our traffic problems. Sorry, maybe I was oversensitive.
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It might be better to refocus this discussion away from where the geographical boundaries of the Ladder are and onto what is the real point of Cara's post "Please please please if you drive, do it at a reasonable speed." whereby reasonable means on or below the speed limit.
There is a useful debate to be had about the role of the drivers in traffic calming. Too often (as with much else) things are done to them: cameras, speed bumps etc that, human nature being what it is, are seen as obstacles to be got round or laws to be bent. Involving drivers in traffic calming in a way that puts responsibility firmly back where it belongs, that is to say, on them, is an interesting avenue to explore. People (much as it pains me to say it) still see it as a 'right' not a privilege to be able to drive, so lets explore how the responsible driver can influence the irresponsible.
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