Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Car ownership in Harringay
An interesting fact from the How well do you really know Harringay? thread was that 62% of households in Harringay do not own a car or van.
Given this, I struggle to understand why it is accepted that it is OK that cars cause so many problems in the area. Be it the the constant congestion on Green Lanes (including the fact that half of it turns into a car park for half of the day), the permanently full parking spots on the Ladder roads, the difficulty of closing a road for one day a month for kids to play, cars bombing up and down Wightman Rd making it generally unpleasant, pedestrian crossings in dangerous places, etc.
Given the initial statistic it seems that cars should really be taking a backseat to the needs of the majority of the community rather than the other way round.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Abi on
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Yeah, I thought this too (similar figure in Seven Sisters and, I presume, most of the surrounding areas).
As a case in point, earlier this week some workmen rocked up and changed the phasing on the lights at the pedestrian crossing on Seven Sisters Rd near where I live. I don't recall being consulted on this, but it now seems to take about twice as long to cross the road. Clearly cars are a priority.
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Permalink Reply by SarahC on
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Everyone drives in from outside and wrecks the place. It would be quite interesting to track where they come from.
Though I was initially and mistakenly quite up for a discussion on cat ownership in Harringay.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Way over 62% amongst HoL members I would think.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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Nothing like a bit of ill-informed exaggeration to nullify your rant Andrew
Who exactly is it that accepts that it is ok that cars cause so many problems ?
Surely you mean pedestrians crossing in dangerous places ?
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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With two small kids in tow, I don't cross in dangerous places but believe me it can be very unsafe to cross at many crossings. One clown actually backed out of Warham, onto the crossing while I was crossing with a buggy, on green naturally. Missed us by inches. He drove away before I could park the buggy and vent my wrath upon him. He couldn't have cared less.
As a pedestrian, I encounter courtesy and care from road users only about 60% of the time, I would say. I see people on mobiles, eating and even reading at the wheel. If challenged, you are threatened with violence (this happened to me on Wightman road)
It is for this reason that my children don't enjoy the freedom that I, and I would imagine, you enjoyed as a child. Too many cars driven by careless, selfish people and it would seem a good percentage of them are not even local.
After all, It takes less than a minute to ruin lives
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The lighten the tedium of the walk from Harringay station to Warham I sometime play spot the mobile phone. Friday coming home from work it was 11, including one spectacularly talented individual who was having a chat with one hand and holding a can of coke with the other.
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Permalink Reply by AndrewAW1 on
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Well if you look at TFL guidance (Blackfriars Bridge for instance where the number of private vehicles is under 50% in rush hour) the instruction is still to facilitate motor vehicle flow. Similarly, look at the "Euston Circus" junction (TCR and Euston Road) and the priority again is motor vehicles.
Obviously they're not in Harringay but they're indicative of the problem. Closer to home was the proposal to scrap the bus lane on Green Lanes and replace it with car parking.
The "rant" was more of an observation on threads that come up on here. The pedestrian crossing in a dangerous place is referring to the one on Endymion Rd. Although your re-wording is a reflection on my original topic. If car-drivers are in the minority in the area then there really shouldn't be dangerous places for pedestrians to cross. The pedestrian should have the priority, not the car.
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Absolutely - and that bus lane plan (which I sincerely hope has been scrapped) was ridiculous.
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Permalink Reply by Ruben on
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Cars cause a problem because all changes around have been made to cage them into corners and never been considered whencreating new rules. I guess the approach is:if we make it sufficiently difficult they may somehow vanish.
Hewit Road is a great example.
Cars are expected to go down green lanes or turnpikelane, then green lanes. This way is painfully slow and will add 10 minutes or more to your commute. Hence people prefer a mile of speed bumps and other torture as long as traffic flows.
Instead of fixing undrelying issue (improve traffic flow in the road where we want the traffic to be) we just add pain to where the symptoms are (hewitt)
So naturally drivers will take the next less painful route. And we have just shifted the problem to Beresford. Voilà!
Congratulations to the gifted mind. Commiserations to residents of Beresford.
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Hi all
Really interesting discussion and it seems like there is good local support for making Harringay less car dominated. I live on Pemberton Rd and the fantastic Play Street makes you realise how much nicer it is without traffic dominating. How nice would it be if our streets could be like this more often. There are two campaigning organisations who organised election campaigns around improving streets for people in the run up to the recent elections. Living Streets, the pedestrian campaigning organisation: http://www.livingstreets.org.uk/make-a-change/urgent-actions/london... and London Cycling Campaign: http://space4cycling.org/ So, email your councillors and ask them what they are doing to support the campaigns. There are simple and cost effective solutions: the humble bollard which prevents through traffic whilst allowing residents to access all streets is a great way to reduce rat running and give streets back to the people. De Beauvoir Town in Hackney is a great example of this. I would be happy to set up a meeting with the local branches of Living Streets and Harringay Cyclists to discuss ideas which could be submitted to the Council. I am away this weekend but message me if you are interested and I will set something up. Cheers, Rosie
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Harringay is not car dominated. There is only one road through it without speed bumps and a 20mph restriction. So I would say rather the opposite. I suppose you don't drive, so it is very difficult for you to have a balanced point of view that has into account all road users.
I have lived in Harringay the past 8 or 9 years. I have commuted by tube, bus, car and motorcycle over this time.
I can tell you that green lanes is so miserable that if I need to drive from Sainsbury's to Falkland road, I would rather go up umfreville road (with all the speed bumps), wightman road all the way to fairfax, then down fairfax, up one and back into falkland all the way to home. That's how scared I am of driving on green lanes (because the risk of running someone over who does not look while crossing is just too great)
Your proposal is to block traffic. Where are your plans for the traffic? would you expect the cars to just vanish? it's the same reasoning as the hewitt road no-right-turn. Imagine that the rest of boroughs did the same.
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But driving from Sainsbury's to the Ladder is exactly the kind of journey that could just vanish. It's easily walkable and if you need heavy shopping the supermarkets have cheap/free delivery services that do that for you.
I wouldn't assume that people don't drive. I don't drive now because I live here and it's unnecessary, but I've had a driving licence for 30 years. I absolutely understand that people with disabilities/ young families/specific work requirements need to drive around here, but a lot of local car use just seems inefficient.
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