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Islington Tribune - by PETER GRUNER
Published: 21 September 2007

Cllr James Murray with Fiona Mallin, who claims speed humps faio to slow traffic

‘Speeding lorries put kids in danger’

SPEEDING lorries in quiet Barnsbury are putting children’s lives at risk, residents have warned.
They say vehicles are travelling at up to 60mph in a 20mph zone in Hemingford Road, which children cross to attend a nursery.
They claim that among the worst culprits are drivers of Royal Mail vehicles and “white van men” who use the road to avoid busy Caledonian Road and Liverpool Road.
One man suffered leg injuries when he was knocked off his moped by a van last month. Residents fear it is only a matter of time before a child is injured or killed.
They say vehicles hit speed bumps with such force that the impact is shaking the foundations of listed houses and leaving cracks in buildings.
Residents want Islington Council to take action to prevent lorries, which are banned from the road, using it as a short-cut.
The council’s Labour-controlled west area committee is recommending that the council introduces new measures as soon as possible.
Barnsbury Labour councillor James Murray backs the residents’ call for the road to be narrowed – with access for buses and private cars only – and for CCTV to be introduced to identify drivers who break the ban.
Cllr Murray said: “The problem seems to be that speed humps are too narrow.
“They don’t slow the lorries and vans who shouldn’t be there in the first place.
“Despite the lorry ban, heavy vehicles use it as a short cut between Liverpool Road and the Cally Road.
“It’s very dangerous and a child trying to cross the road could be injured or killed.”
Mother-of-three Fiona Mallin said: “The speed bumps are quite inadequate to slow lorries. Rather than being ‘tabled’ they are individual bumps.
“It means that vehicles coming down with a wide enough axle simply zoom over them.
“I don’t object to traffic. If you live in an urban area you expect traffic. But I do have a problem with speed. There are lots of very small children on the street.”
Executive member for Road Safety Lib Dem Cllr Lucy Watt said she would be happy to meet the residents to discuss the problems. “The speed humps have been designed for buses and emergency services.
“We are putting in CCTV in certain areas but the problem is you can't prosecute someone for breaking a lorry ban unless you see them going into the zone without stopping.
“What we do is use CCTV cars who chase the lorries to prove they have broken the ban.
“The problem with narrowing the street is that it reduces parking spaces.”

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