Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
What if the council banned overtaking on Wightman Rd?
I wonder what people would think if the council experimented with completely banning overtaking on Wightman Rd as a step towards giving us a more liveable urban environment without offending the motorists of Crouch End and Enfield too much? The 20mph limit is set by the council and this ban would also be in their remit. Although speed limit is mostly enforced using road humps I challenge you go and visit another English town without 20mph limits in areas like Harringay, it's frightening.
The idea would be that in rush hour, maximum speeds would be enforced by cyclists and that cycling down there would be a much nicer experience. There is already precious little room or incentive (I'll get to that) for vehicles to overtake anyway.
At rush hour there are queues at either end of Wightman Rd, quite big queues, that make it nonsensical to over take anyway. We have seen video footage on here of dangerous overtaking on Wightman Rd and it has to be done at much more than the 20mph limit because of oncoming traffic and the pedestrian islands.
Thoughts?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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As I've said, the 20mph limit seems to be sort of working
No, it's not. The SID on Wightman opposite the Mosque flashes at almost every vehicle that passes and St Ann's Road is just a racetrack.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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In comparison to town centres in England without a 20mph limit, it’s working.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on
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Well John, invoke action please since after this May the Council composition may be more receptive to your thesis.
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OK, asked Zena! Let's see.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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This could be done simply and cheaply by adding a double white line ( illegal to cross) down the middle of the road. Plus a few cameras on likely pinch points. Does this need legislation/by-law?
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Permalink Reply by Karen Alexander on
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When we were working to get Wightman made 20mph we were pushing for enforcement by speed cameras but were told that the criteria was that there had to be a certain number of accidents - fortunately there had not been enough. A camera could not be considered.
Living on Wightman I have seen some unbelievably examples of overtaking on the wrong side of the road. It really is an accident waiting to happen!
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But this is not about speed, it's breaking law by crossing double white lines - absolute offence unless there is mitigating reason eg avoiding ambulance.
What's the law re third party photos as evidence? I've given photo evidence in court re cases of obstruction, wrongful arrest etc. In that case apparently the photo is just there to back up my verbal evidence/statement, my witness account is the evidence but the photo backs it up. So we could do DIY evidence if car seen and recorded on wrong side of line.Private security camera evidence is used in court to support ID of villains.
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Isn't speeding breaking the law - an absolute offence ? Punishable by optional speed awareness course ( first offence only ) or three points and a fine.
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Yes but it's not often prosecuted and is difficult to prosecute because motor vehicle manufacturers are under no obligation to make their speedometers as accurate as the computer I use to measure my bicycle speed.
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Not that old one again, John, where do you get this guff. Vehicle manufacturers are under an obligation to ensure the speedometer does not under-read.
" For all true speeds up to the maximum design speed of the vehicle, the true speed shall not exceed the indicated speed."
From http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/3013/schedule/2/made#text%3...
Typically, mechanical speedometers over-read by 2-5%; if you have a GPS-based device, it will indicate a lower, more accurate speed.
The low rate of prosecutions for speeding has many reasons but that's not one of them.
In Haringey, the 20 mph limit is monitored ( occasionally) at hazard sites like schools, by police-trained volunteers who record speed and pass the information to the police who send out a warning letter to drivers exceeding the speed limit by 10% + 2 mph = 24 mph. It's not a frequent event, though, never mind the 24/7 monitoring you expect the police or the council to instigate.
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The police are falling for that line when they stop you for speeding though.
I don't think this will require any enforcement and I think it's only even a thing during commuting times, 24/7 is a straw man.
We'd only need compliance from some of the motorists going down Wightman Rd to have this work.
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Speedometers are always optimistic. They have to be accurate up to 30 mph, thereafter the indicated speed can be up to 10% higher than the actual speed. They must never show a speed less than the actual speed. So, if your speedometer says you are doing 50 mph, you are probably only doing 46. I suspect the manufacturers do this so that you think your vehicle is better than it really is.
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