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Cllr Wally Burgess on Tufnell Park Road |
Humps out, speed cushions in, but do they slow traffic?
Critics claim new measures in danger of turning busy 20mph road back into racetrack
NEW speed cushions which replaced unpopular road humps have proved to be a “worthless waste of money”, according to Holloway residents this week.
They say vehicles simply “sail over” the low-impact cushions installed in Tufnell Park Road by Islington Council at a cost of many hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The cushions replaced solid road humps which, while attracting criticism for noise and vibrations, at least kept speed levels down to 30mph.
Lib Dem councillor Tracy Ismail told the council’s north area committee on Tuesday that she was worried that the new-style humps – introduced to slow down traffic in a new 20mph zone – were in fact allowing cars to travel at up to twice that speed.
“The council consulted on these new humps before they were installed,” she said. “And it was what the community wanted. The old, solid humps posed problems for some householders and jarred up vehicles, particularly emergency vehicles when they travelled at speed over them.
“But it seems these new spongy, low-impact, platform humps are not reducing the speed of traffic.
“I’ve driven along Tufnell Park Road at 20mph to find cars overtaking me at 30mph, sometimes 35mph and even 40mph.
“It’s not as bad a racetrack as it was before the original humps were installed many years ago but it is getting there,” she said.
Cllr Ismail has urged police and council engineers to monitor the situation.
She was supported by Kathleen Greaves, chairwoman of Tufnell Park Residents’ Association. “I don’t know why they had to change what was there,” Mrs Greaves said. “It was one of these blanket decisions which was not thought through.”
She added: “I live in Tufnell Park Road and watch it from time to time. Quite a few motorists are going faster than they did before.
“We had no idea when they consulted before installing these new humps that they would be so easy. The whole exercise has been a worthless waste of money if they don’t reduce the speed of the traffic.
“These humps are fine for by-roads where fewer people drive, but not for a major through road like ours which attracts speeding motorists.
“They slow the traffic a bit but if somebody wanted to drive at 40mph they wouldn’t do any serious damage to their vehicle.”
Residents want police to use cameras to check how the new humps are affecting traffic. They have suggested that Transport for London might be persuaded to introduce speed cameras as a last measure.
But Georgious Theolosis, who owns the deli at the corner of Warrender Road, is pleased with the new humps. “My shop used to shake terribly with the old humps,” he said. “Now it is peaceful.”
Labour councillor Wally Burgess said he supported the introduction of a 20mph limit but it needed careful thought.
“We’ve asked police to monitor the situation and this is what they are going to do,” he said. “Putting in nice gentle humps has just increased speed. The answer might be penalty notices and speed cameras as a deterrent.” |
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