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 cara howard on
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Yes John I meant 'can't respond' and no John I did not join to post about my cat.
I joined on Friday, having been told about the site by a friend and having not long moved to the ladder. My cat was killed on Sunday.
So it's just unfortunate timing that my first post was under such sad circumstances.
Perhaps you should reserve your judgement and assumptions of others, or at least not wildly bandy them about when you are in fact wrong.
But whatever my motivation, surely it doesn't matter as long as people are aware and care enough to do something about it. How many people don't ever consider giving blood until they've needed it themselves? That's life.
I was an active member of the local community site where I lived previously and have to say from what little experience I have had of this one, there was a better feeling of community support, which is incredibly sad. But unlike some of the clearly bitter, pedantic and insensitive members of this site, I won't judge everyone else on their behaviour.Surely the site is about community spirit and everyone having a shared interest in the area we live? Not nit-picking and swiping at people trying to raise a serious point in unfortunate circumstances. If I was wrong about that, I doubt I'll remain a member for long.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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As I said, I've lived here more than 10 years, back when the roads used to be one-way and the traffic mostly private vehicles. I wouldn't dream of letting my cat out the front of the house and rather sadly, not my children either. I am genuinely very sorry about your cat. I'd be very upset if anything happened to mine.
I'm wrong often. I guess in hindsight the thing that really got my back up was that you joined recently, posted that you had a traffic problem when I know from having lived here so long that actually Seymour Rd has worse problems with HMOs than traffic, and when long suffering OAE of Wightman responded to your post in anything other than obsequious joy, you had the chutzpah to accuse him of being patronising.
You don't know this but the 20mph zone on Wightman Rd is there in no small part due to the pressure he was able to apply by walking up and down his road (a big deal for him) gathering signatures for a bus route. Wightman was a TfL 'owned' road and they would not allow the council to put traffic calming on it supposedly because they might want a bus route on there. We didn't get a bus, nice speed humps though.
Anyway, I'm genuinely sorry and welcome.
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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Bitter, pedantic, insensitive, patronising old prick I may be, Cara, but wait till you're here for a wet weekend before you rush to judgement on the quality of community support either on HOL or in Greater Harringay. I cannot help it (so I don't intend trying) if my sense of humour is not yours or if your sense of tragedy is not mine. Yes, as John helpfully points out, it has taken a few years to persuade even our Rungs neighbours, not to mention our Haringey & TFL Rulers, that Wightman Road is a densely Residential road rather than a rat-run stretch of the B138, and that Wightman Road should have been an integral part of the Ladder 20mphZone nearly a decade before we reached that goal, however dubious its value may have proved to be. As a very recent arrival you could not be expected to know that but, as Hugh will tell you, Harringay History is an essential feature of HOL's excellent community support.
Meanwhile, welcome to what has been my chosen barrio since 1976. Stay long enough to make it better. If my opening gambit of calling you "my dear friend" was part of my perceived patronising image, may I explain that it was no more than a light wordplay on cara = dear (Latin/Italian) and friend (Irish). Pedantic, yes; patronising, no. You will have already noticed that HOL's forum is never short of feline discussion - though never on my posts.
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Permalink Reply by Anette on
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Go Cara! I was really sorry to hear about Elvis in your other post, and I totally agree with you.
McMullan, back off. Give her a chance to meet you in person before you get awkward. I'm on Seymour too, and I am scratching my head in disbelief every night when I hear cars zooming up the road, and hitting absolutely every speed bump on the way. Who drives like that??? The few times I have managed to get a glimpse of the speeding car i find that 9 out of 10 times it's a minicab...
And OAE, have you ever seen a property for sale on Wightman Road or Green Lanes being marketed as being "on the attractive Harringay Ladder"? Didn't think so. I rest my case. Keep on dreaming though.
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You, Anette, may base your philosophy of life on Estate Agents' moral high ground. I don't.
And is that a Nordic ladder on your flag thing?
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Ah no, I've found my glasses. It's not the Nordic ladder I thought. It's the lopsided cross your forebears, Olaf and Sigurd, looted from the monastery in my hometown in 873. Keep it, we've made a better one.
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Thank you Anette.
Happier the post seems more focussed on the key point now...and glad my first has been so lively.
Last night was particularly bad, some really noisy cars, loud music, crazy speeds, ever so slightly tempted to see if I can't get one of those things the police use to lob across across the road and bring them to a stop myself.
Last weekend I got a filthy look when I gesticulated wildly at some 'yoot' who had driven (knowlingly it would seem) the wrong way down Seymour Road and didn't seem to remotely give a crap...unbelievable.
I will add it to the many things I find myself repeatedly moaning to Haringay Council about.
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Cara, glad to have another resident on Seymour who seems to give a s**t!
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Often when i drive on Wightman road at 20mph i get hassled by drivers behind. They 'tailgate' me getting right up to me from behind and often beep me because they think i'm going too slow. On one occasion the car overtook (illegally) at great speed and flipped me the finger. I think that part of ones driving test procedure one should be made to visit a childrens trauma surgery ward. (I'm serious) Cara i'm sorry about your cat.
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I completely agree. Unfortunately for a lot of these people, it would take something happening to them to rethink. And even then, it's more likely someone else would come off worse.
I'm not sure how increasing the speed limit on motorways will do anything to support slower driving in built up areas unfortunately.
Only last night, as a pedestrian, I was crossing at the lights by the railway bridge with my kids and while on amber flashing, with the green man still visible and flashing, some impatient white van man started moving forward with us still on the crossing. Needless to say I ushered the kids on, stopped in front of his van and made a grand gesture of pointing to said flashing man before moving on.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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From memory, previous discussions have revealed that the control of speeding on the Ladder roads falls into a void somewhere between the police and the Council and currently no one is taking responsibility for proactively controlling traffic speeds on the Ladder.
This discussion refers, but it's hard to follow because Sgt Jono deleted his profile in favour of a generic police profile and took all his words of wisdom with the profile - but you'll get a sense. I did a bit of reading before writing the post. So it sets out the issues from a reasonably informed lay perspective.
The other thing to bear in mind is the forthcoming £1.2m to be spent on traffic in the area. There's supposed to have been some traffic modelling going on and a consultation forthcoming, but it's all gone deathly quite.
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