Strakers Road Speed Humps

[nununoolio]

Hello Henryb

You don't seem to know the location too well. There is a cycle path (part of London Cycle Network route 25) that runs near Strakers Road, cutting across the common in front of the cafe.

If you do use this path, please bear in mind that much like Strakers Road, small children, unattended dogs or absent minded adults are likely to wander across your path at any time.

[henryb]

I cycle it twice a week. I know it quite well. The fact there is a cycle path going a different direction doesn't actually help. I cycle about 75 miles a week in London so I am also fully aware that pedestrians walk out in front cyclists without looking.

[davidh]

henryb... the cycle path does not go in a different direction. it and straker road go the car park and the cafe. so, no problem for you after all

[DJKillaQueen]

James Barber Wrote:

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> Hi DJKQ,

> We shouldnt need people to be injured to know it

> makes no sense allowing people to speed through

> the park environment.

James WHERE is the study undertaken to prove that speeding is a persistent problem along Strakers Road? I've lived opposite it for almost 22 years, have walked accross Strakers Road 3 or four times a day for most of it.....I think I would notice if speeding was a persistent issue.

5mph is good enough for

> Dulwich Park which is enforced by restricting

> people from driving through the park.

And there is the difference right there. Dulwich Park can be DRIVEN THROUGH. Not comparable imo.

Peckham Rye

> has a car park further in so the road needs

> calming.

WHY? The car park effectively makes it a cul-de-sac.

> So what would be your long-term solution

Frist of all I'd like to see a meaningful survey done to establish if there is a marked problem. People are aking all the time for traffic calming in places where there is a blatent problem and it falls on deaf ears. Also to place a hump every 50 metres on such a short road is also excessive. If you bothered to monitor the road in question you wouldn't fail to notice that it is speeding along Peckham Rye by some, that is a more worrying issue (and yes, the thousands of pounds spent adapting parts of that road has actually made the problem worse).

When you or Ranata can point to the survey undertaken to base this decision upon, then we can have a debate based on fatual evidence. At present it seems the decision is based on 'impression' and no doubt 'lobbying'.......and you of all people James would the the first to criticise money being spent in this way.

[henryb]

"henryb... the cycle path does not go in a different direction. it and straker road go the car park and the cafe. so, no problem for you after all"

Yes it does. I come from the park from the south and turn right on Strakers up to the crossing on Peckham Rye east. Turning left onto Strakers, going through car park, then right on the cycle path would much longer. So bumps would be a problem for me if a minor one

I have never witnessed speeding cars on this road. I see speeding cars and dangerous driving on Forest Hill Road and Colyton all the time. Given we are supposed to living times of austerity I wouldn't have thought putting bumps here would be a priority.

I don?t object to traffic measure in principal but bumps seem very expensive for what they achieve and affect bikes and small cars more than they do people with large 4x4s.

[davidh]

probably a minute or two longer. poor you. I walk dogs there every day and, therefore probably have a better idea of the traffic... most of which travels too fast. strakers is not a through road to peckham rye at all. it is a cul de sac. think on

[henryb]

.

[henryb]

> strakers is not a through road

> to peckham rye at all. it is a cul de sac. think

> on

The road to the east of the park is also called peckham rye.

[DJKillaQueen]

Really Davidh? Cars travelling too fast along a road to a dead end that no pedestrian accident has ever occurred on? Compare that to the neighbpouring Peckham Rye....that's were you'll see cars speeding, that's where accidents have occured (including to myself). The more I read on this thread the more think that this Strakers Road nonsense is the result of lobbying (probably by FOPR) and is based on no evidence or common sense whatsoever.

[henryb]

Have these incidents on Strakers Rd been reported to the police?

[henryb]

davidh Wrote:

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> probably a minute or two longer. poor you.

It's not really me I am bothered about.

I think the best way to improve road safety, reduce congestion and pollution is get more people out of their cars and on bikes and public transport. Making bike journeys more difficult, less comfortable and longer will discourage cycle use and bumps do exactly that.

There is an automatic assumption that bumps are good solution to speeding ? they are not. If there are speeders on Strakers road why aren?t the police doing anything about it? Isn't it a bigger issue that the police are turning a blind eye these people who are recklessly endangering other peoples lives?

[the-e-dealer]

Speed humps are very effective at reducing speed.

[DJKillaQueen]

The truth is henry that a car going at ten miles per hour is technically speeding on Strakers Road. What most people consider as speeding is travelling at a speed that makes accidents more likely, and serious injury from accidents more likely. The area around Straker's Road is not so heavily populated that people stupidly abandon all road sense and run out in front of cars travelling at 10 mpr........hence there never having been an accident there.

[DJKillaQueen]

the-e-dealer Wrote:

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> Speed humps are very effective at reducing speed.

Depends on the type of hump and type of vehicle being driven.

[boosboss]

DJKillaQueen Wrote:

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The more I read on this thread the more think that this Strakers Road

nonsense is the result of lobbying (probably by FOPR) and is based on no evidence or common sense

whatsoever.

FOPRP didn't lobby for this, but were consulted by the Parks Department whose initiative it is and are in support.

[DJKillaQueen]

So it's a Parks Department initiative. Surely even they can see that ?5000 would be better spent elsewhere. It also makes sense though as to their lack of perspective regarding roads management. Strakers Road is not an accident waiting to happen....nothing of the sort, but if they have a policy of speed humping every road that runs through a Southwark Park then it begs the accusation that it's traffic calming simply because it's a road within a park (i.e. blanket policy), rather than any real need for doing so, and rather ridiculous given the drastic cuts forced on local authorities by the recent financial crisis. Meanwhile, vital services elsewhere are short of money and resources.

[nununoolio]

The humps are being introduced after complaints from park users and observations by parks staff (me included) of vehicles driving way too fast (much more than 10mph) along Strakers Road, especially since the road was resurfaced.

It is an accident waiting to happen and I have witnessed a couple of near misses in the past few months, both times with toddlers nearly being hit. Better to react to these complaints and observations than react to a death I reckon.

People do switch off a bit mentally as soon as they come into the park, parents, dog owners and drivers too. I don't think they treat Strakers Road as carefully as they would almost any other road.

As a cyclist, I'm not a fan of speed bumps either, but we can still traverse the park in any direction without touching one or even having to make a significant detour.

[davidh]

as one of those who pressed for return of the humps, I am in complete agreement with nununoolio. I walk our two dogs every day and trying to cross strakers road is a daily trauma. cars do travel far too fast and the drivers are very ratty if you signal to them to slow down, thus making it 10 seconds longer for them to reach the cafe. there were humps on this road for years and years before they were removed when it was resurfaced. 5mph is the speed limit on this road and if motorists are affronted by this then really too too bad for them.

[davidh]

DJKQ seems to live in a permanent state of outrage. I know not where she lives, but I doubt if she ever walks dogs over the area under discussion. (I am aware that she will now almost certainly vow that she is a regular walker/jogger/driver on strakers road.)

[DJKillaQueen]

Oh david...really....I live opposite the park (and have done for 20+ years)...I walk through it every day and yes I cross Straker's Road several times a day. Not sure what your point was anyway.

So it seems as though the reasoning for humps is because some dog owners and some parents of toddlers lose all sense of common sense when approaching Straker's Road, and need to be protected from the drivers that see a dog or toddler in the road and head straight for them at speed?

I wonder if they lose such control of their faculties when they cross Peckham Rye or any neighbouring road for that matter? Just because it is a road travelling through a park does not mean it is somehow magically different to any other road. Humps have become the solution for negligent parents and dog owners more than cars travelling at 10 or 15 mpr imo.

[henryb]

nununoolio/davidh have you called the police about the speeders?

The alternative route was blocked off with lorries from a tv company on saturday.

[the-e-dealer]

Yeah parks are for relaxing not for looking out for idiot car drivers. I say ban cars from the park!

[DJKillaQueen]

There's sense in your comment e-dealer...but some parks are so big they need roads for access for maintenance, emergencies etc. My view is that there is perhaps an arguement for putting a speed hump about half way down to force cars to slow down as they come over the brow of the curve....that seems perfectly sensible.......but what is being proposed are humps every 50 metres....FIVE of them....at a cost of 5k.

[davidh]

djkq. strakers road IS magically different to other roads outside the park. it is essentially a cul de sac for those going to the car park and for those servicing the cafe. your suggestion that I have lost my faculties is offensive and arrogant (par for the course from you). dogs and children can be very erratic in their movements and they need to be catered for, along with those of us no longer quite as able to leap out of the way of traffic, in what is a public park NOT a thoroughfare

[the-e-dealer]

emergency and works access only.