Lawrie Park Road

[teddybear]

Does anyone else have an issue with the speed of the traffic, especially buses down this road.

There was a very nasty accident down here in the early hours of Saturday morning where I think more than one person died, the driver was in a very bad way and not sure about the other occupants and this can only have been due to speed and careless driving.

thoughts please?

[Paddy Pantsdown]

Yes - I was amazed one day to see a double-decker hurtling down Lawrie Park Road with the driver on his mobile phone. I had to take avoiding action so I didn't have time to take the registration.

I hope someone else on the bus reported him - out of self preservation!

As a pedal & motorcyclist I fear one day this area will be 'traffic calmed' since most of my recent near misses have been due to 'road safety' features eg

* Traffic humps that can cause you to swerve dangerously you if you don't spot them and in looking for them divert you from watching other traffic & pedestrians

* Traffic control using lights (and crossings) you can't see.

* Traffic islands and road narrowings that swerve you into the path of other vehicles

* Railings that stop pedestrians getting off the road and also blocking escape routes when you get forgotten by articulated lorries & buses

* 24 hour bus lanes (like on Crystal Palace Parade) that unnecessarily force you to speed (and risk being radar trapped) or sideswiped on both sides as you are forced to drive in the 'fast' lane at night when drivers may be tired/drunk.

I, like everybody else, don't want to die on the roads but I do feel the cures are as bad or worse than the disease. Look on the Lewisham website - you get plenty of rhetoric but a search 'road accident statistics' gives a zero reponse. The approach to road safety appears to be increasingly simplistic propaganda statements on speed rather than being fact based - like the infamous TV advert which showed the 'child' being hit because the car was going too fast. Look at it carefully and the car didn't stop in time because it was skidding - so one or more of bad tyres, poor road surface, no ABS and driver training was the prime cause. Not the speed!

Oh and possibly the fact that with so many signs, markings, prohibitions, cameras etc - was the driver fully concentrating and anticipating the danger?

Sorry TeddyBear. You set me off on my favourite rant......

[teddybear]

I totally agree that the traffic calming usually tends to make things worse. the speeds alert signs such as they use in some roads in Bromley are fairly good as it makes you aware of the speed, but its the attitude that drivers have too, that they rule the road and pay no attention to what is happening around them, thinking that rules are for someone else!!!

I assume that the accident on Friday night/Saturday morning involved alcohol as the driver of the one of the cars disappeared, whilst the driver of the other car and the other two passengers were badly hurt.

not sure of the answer but I would welcome the speed cameras here, as it might at least slow the buses down......

[Paddy Pantsdown]

Not sure of the answer but I would welcome the speed cameras here, as it might at least slow the buses down......

If there was one place I would put a camera in Sydenham - it would be down Westwood Hill just after the school. Lots of vehicles have been deceived by the bend, lost it and piled into the back brick walls of the Beaulieu Avenue houses opposite.

Going back to the buses. I think we have made our own problems here. Making them one man operated which means stressful inner London driving is not indespersed with a 30 sec rests at the bus stop. Now they have to take fares, take abuse, monitor what's going on upstairs and make up the schedule. Its an encouragement to make them bad drivers.

They are under a lot of pressure - pushing them too hard and then 'flashing' them is not IMHO a good idea if you want good people to want to drive our buses.

A nice very loud horn inside the bus that sounds when its going over 35mph might be an alternative idea

[Illuminance]

To be honest I am amazed last Saturdays' fatal accident had not happened sooner, Lawrie Park Road is treated by many as a racetrack including the buses.
We do, however, have a temporary traffic calming measure to look forward to in April, in the form of Transco and their 13-week major gas main replacement, mirroring last years' works at Cobbs Corner. I can't wait...

[fishcox]

I lived on Westwood Hill for 14 years, and the sound of traffic at night often sounded like Le Mans. Motorbikes love the run downhill, and must be doing something in the region of 60mph, when its late, and there isnt much traffic about. I also lived opposite the bus stop, near Charleville, and the sound of the bus's brakes squealing as they stopped there, on the way down the hill, was one of the reasons we sold up.

Every now and again, the police have one of their speed traps set up, and they capture a lot of speeders. They should do it more often.

I now live just off Lawrie Park Road, which has had a speeding problem ever since I can remember.

Prior to the fatality last week, some bloke had hit the concrete bollard outside St Christophers, as he had misjudged the gap, at considerable speed.

Something does need to be done, to prevent further fatalities, although, given that the fatal car crash was an underage driver (was it a stolen car?) then I doubt speed cameras/traffic calming would have made much difference.