So Alistair the little darling is going to appoint a Traffic Czar. (or should it be Tsar? someone will tell us in good time but anyway to the point.)
Well if he/she gets as much co-operation as Keith Hellawell former drugs czar I won't hold my breath for any real improvements.
Anyway what suggestions have we backroomers for
a) a name of some sensible person to do the job, and
b) things to be looked into besides holes in the road, pun intended.
My suggestion for a) Carole Adams...... No seriously why not? ie some sensible down to earth female not based in London who could put us all in order.
b) How about stopping all this planning insanity in local traffic offices.
Typical sequence of events, its closer to truth this one than is comfortable.
Traffic lights, right turn is not a rat run just the obvious way to go.
Two lanes at lights, right lane right turners, left = SO.
Someone puts a cycle lane in for the benefit of the two cyclists a day that are daft and fit enough to cycle up this hill.
Road now not wide enough for two lanes so all the right turners block up the traffic.
Right turns banned.
Traffic now finds alternate, less appropriate ways.
Residents complain of rat running.
Council considers speed bumps traffic calming what have you.
Residents now moan about speed bumps.
Lights replaced by roundabout at huge expense.
Residents on original road now complain about huge increase of traffic that is no longer rat running. Demand speed bumps,
aaaaarrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh!
Which bit isn't true?
they've not started on the roundabout.........yet
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So you've been to Bromley then FIF !
The thing that annoys me almost as much as the planners is that most of the resdients who complain about rat running in their streets and demand humps, then also complain when their daily rat runs through other residential streets are humped !
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FiF, correct me if I am wrong please, I was under the impression that you had been out of the country for a long time.
And yet you have a remarkable understanding of what is happening in my area, and, by probability, I'm sure is happening in areas all over the UK now!
HF
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you missed the expensive water feature on the new roundabout
which when its windy allows water to be blown onto the road
which when mrs average going to the supermarket drives over she slides into the pavement
meaning that the ever so expensive water feature then gets switched off
i kid u not they put a fountain on a roundabout in sunderland at somewhere bewteen a quarter and a half million quid which after a few months was switched off cos it was dangerous
sadly the locals always vote labour in so if you have "labour" printed next to your name on the ballot paper you can get away with anything
and the local hospital cannot afford kidneyt machines or scanners, but theyve wasted all that money on a fountain!
give me strength
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No HF you are wrong. I spend quite a bit of time out of UK, sometimes in shortish spells ie 1 week. Sometimes in much longer spells. Just back off to USA shortly, finishing with 10 days working in Orlando FL, then back in time for the mince pie run.
Its a hard life but someone has to do it. ;-)
You'll see my response to Volvoman, this is miles away from Gtr London/Home Counties etc. Just goes to make my point about widespread mad planner disease.
As another example I seem to remember that renowned motoring noter Phil Llewellyn having a rant about Oswestry bypass which from the sound of it was another prime example.
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So you've been to Bromley then FIF !
Nope its somewhere far away from the smoke. Which sort of makes my point just how widespread this stupidity is.
What I fear is that the appointment of this traffic supremo is simply a political move by Alistair Darling because he knows that either
a) its beyond all hope or
b) the Government's attempts at solutions in the pipeline will be unpalatable to the majority or
c) the possible solutions will be politically unpalatable to government colleagues.
and therefore wants a fall guy/gal to protect his personal position.
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So Alistair the little darling is going to appoint a Traffic Czar. (or should it be Tsar? someone will tell us in good time but anyway to the point.)
Since you ask FiF:
www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-tsa1.htm
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Lets face it:
the Government is going to do nothing real (they control the purse strings and all new roads have to be approved and funded by.. Whitehall)
So this is just spin cos they know the problem is getting worse, public transport is a bad joke (see the unions striking in the Tube for a start) and they PROMISED to make it better..(public transport that is).
If you are not doing anything, pretend...
madf
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